Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MASTER AND SERVANT

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 872 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

MASTER AND SERVANT . These are scarcely to be considered as technical terms in See also:English See also:law. The relationship which they imply is created when one See also:man hires the labour of another for a See also:term. Thus it is not constituted by merely contracting with another for the performance of a definite See also:work, or by sending an See also:article to an artificer to be repaired, or engaging a builder to construct a See also:house. Nor would the employment of a man for one definite See also:act of See also:personal service—e.g. the engagement of a messenger for a single occasion—generally make the one master and the other servant. It was held, however, in relation to the offence of See also:embezzlement, that a drover employed on one occasion to drive See also:cattle See also:home from See also:market was a servant within the See also:statute. On the other See also:hand, there are many decisions limiting the meaning of " servants " under See also:wills giving legacies to the class of servants generally. Thus " a See also:person who was not obliged to give his whole See also:time to the master, but was yet in some sense a servant," was held not entitled to See also:share in a See also:legacy to the servants. These cases are, however, interpretations of wills where the intention obviously is to benefit domestic servants only. And so in other connexions questions may arise as to the exact nature of the relations between the parties—whether they are master and servant, or See also:principal and See also:agent, or landlord and See also:tenant, or partners, &c. The terms of the See also:contract of service are for the most See also:part such as the parties choose to make them, but in the See also:absence of See also:express stipulations terms will be implied by the law. Thus, " where no time is limited either expressly or by implication for the duration of a contract of See also:hiring and service, the hiring is considered as a See also:general hiring, and in point of law a hiring fora See also:year." But " in the See also:case of domestic and See also:menial servants there is a well-known See also:rule, founded solely on See also:custom, that their contract of service may be determined at any time by giving a See also:month's warning or paying a month's See also:wages, but a domestic or other yearly servant, wrongfully quitting his master's service, forfeits all claim to wages for that part of the current year during which he has served, and cannot claim the sum to which his wages would have amounted had he kept his contract, merely deducting therefrom one month's wages.

Domestic servants have a right by custom to leave their situations at any time on See also:

payment of a See also:calendar month's wages in advance, just as a master may See also:discharge them in a similar manner " (See also:Manley See also:Smith's Law of Master and Servant, chs. ii. and iii.). The following are sufficient grounds for discharging a servant: (I) wilful disobedience of any lawful See also:order; (2) See also:gross moral misconduct; (3) habitual See also:negligence; (4) incompetence or permanent See also:disability caused by illness. A master has a right of See also:action against any person who deprives him of the services of his servant, by enticing him away, harbouring or detaining him after See also:notice, confining or disabling him, or by seducing his See also:female servant. Indeed, the See also:ordinary and only available action for See also:seduction in English law is in See also:form of a claim by a See also:parent for the loss of his daughter's services. The See also:death of either master or servant in general puts an end to the contract. A servant wrongfully discharged may either treat the contract as rescinded and See also:sue for services actually rendered, or he may bring a See also:special action for See also:damages for the See also:breach. The See also:common law liabilities of a master towards his servants have been further regulated by the Workmen's See also:Compensation Acts (see EMPLOYER'S LIABILITY). A master is See also:bound to provide See also:food for a servant living under his roof, and wilful breach of See also:duty in that respect is a See also:misdemeanour under the Offences against the Person Act 1861. A servant has no right to demand " a See also:character " from an employer, and if a character be given it will be deemed a privileged communication, so that the master will not be liable thereon to the servant unless it be false and malicious. A master by knowingly giving a false character of a servant to an intending employer may render himself liable—should the servant for example rob or injure his new master. Reference may be made to the articles on LABOUR LEGISLATION for the cases in which special terms have been introduced into See also:con-tracts of service by statute (e.g. See also:Truck Acts).

End of Article: MASTER AND SERVANT

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as ... 		[next]
MASTER OF THE HORSE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries