'such poor children whose parents they shall judge not able 'to keep and maintain them, to be apprentices, where they shall 'see convenient (till such man-child shall come to the age of twenty one, 18 Geo. 3. c. 47.) and such woman-child to the age of twenty-one years, or the time of her marriage; the ( same to be as effectual to all purposes as if such child were of fall age, and by indenture of covenant bound him or her. 'self. s. 5. And by 1 Jac. 1. c. 25. s. 23. 21 Jac. 1. c. 28, and 3 Car. 1. c. 4. s. 22, all persons to whom the overscers of the poor shall according to 43 Eliz. bind any children appren'tices, may take and keep them as apprentices.' Also by 8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 30, where any poor children 'shall be appointed to be bound apprentices pursuant to the said act, the person to whom they are so appointed to be 'bound shall receive and provide for them according to the in'denture signed and confirmed by the two justices, and also 'execute the other part of the said indenture, and if he refuse 'so to do, oath being thereof made by one of the churchwardens or overseers, before any two justices for that county, ho 'shall forfeit 107. to be levied by distress and sale, by warrant But though the master does not exccute a counterpart, yet the apprentice will gain a settlement by service under such apprenticeship, the executing of sach counterpart not being essential to the validity of the indenture. de of's Cases, 31. Cal EF and G H, overseers of the poor of the parish of—in the county of of the one part, and MM, of—in the said parish, shoemaker, of the other part, witnesseth, that the said churchwardens and overseers of the poor, by and with the consent of——————and- -two of his majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, dwelling near to [or in] the said One of the jusparish of, one whereof is of the quorum, have put, placed tices to allow a binding, should and bound, and by these presents do put, place and bind A A, appear to be of a poor boy, whose parents, F P and M P are not able to main- the quorum,but tain him, of the age of -years, to be an apprentice with the want of set. him the said M M, and as an apprentice with him the said M ting this forth M to dwell, from the day of the date of these presents, until the indenture. the said A A shall come to the age of twenty-one years, [or if See the act 26 a female, until the-said A A shall come to the age of twenty- Geo. 2. c. 27. one years, or to the time of her marriage, which shall first happen] according to the statutes in such cases made aud provided. For and during all which time and term the said ▲ A shall the said M M, his said muster, well and faithfully serve in all such lawful business as the said A A shall be put unto by the command of his said master, according to the best and utmost of the power, wit, and ability of him the said A A: and will not vitiate 124 6 (II.) of such justices; the same to be applied to the use of the poor of the place where such offence was committed, saving to the person to whom any poor child shall be appointed honestly and obediently in all things shall behave and demean kimself toward his said master, and honestly, reverently, and orderly, towards the rest of the family of the said M M. And the said M M on his part, for himself, his executors and administrators, doth hereby covenant, promise and agree, to and with the said churchwardens and overseer of the them, their and every of their executors and administrators, poor, and every of and their and every of their successors for the time being, and to and with the said A A that he the said M M shall and will the said AA in the craft, mystery, and occupation of a which he the said M. M, now useth, after the best manner that he can or may, teach, instruct, and inform, or cause and procure to be taught, instructed, and informed, as much as there unto belongeth, or in any-wise appertaineth; and that the said MM shall and will also find, provide, and allow unto the said apprentice, good and sufficient meat, drink, apparel,washing, lodging, and all other things necessary or fit for an ap prentice, for and during all the term aforesaid. [And in case it is a parish apprentice, upon the binding out of whom no larger sum than 57. is paid, there shall be annexed the following proviso 32 Geo. 3. c. 57. s. 1. ; that is to say, Provided always, that the said last-mentioned covenant on the part of the said M M, his executors, and administrators, to be done and performed, shall continue and be in force for no longer time than for three calendar months next after the death of the said M M, in case he the said M M shall happen to die during the continuance of such apprenticeship, according to the provisions of an act passed in the 32d year of the reign of king George the Third, intituled "An act for the further regulation of parish apprentices."] In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands and scals, the day and year first above written, The assent of the two justices. WE two of his majesty's justices of the peace for the above-mentioned county of mentioned parish of dwelling near to the abovehereby declare our assent to the binding the above-named AA, (one of us being of the Quorum,) de according to the form and effect of the above written indenture. Given under our hands the day of (11.) Before this warrant, of which the following is a prece dent, is made out, there must be a previous conviction, in the usual course of proceeding; namely, First, by taking the complaint in writing. Secondly, summoning the party, or issuing a warrant for his apprehension. Thirdly, hearing and to be bound an apprentice if he thinks himself aggrieved, his 'appeal to the next general or quarter sessions, whose order 'therein shall be final, and conclude all parties." s. 5. The justices may force a master to take an apprentice; for by the statute the justices are to put them out, and therefore it must be construed that they have consequentially a power to compel the master to receive one. I Salk. 67. convicting and it ought not to be executed until after the next Sessious, the party having liberty to appeal. in the said parish and ་. in the said county two of his ma Whereas A B and C D, churchwardens, and E F and G II overseers of the poor of the parish of · of, by the assent of us jesty's justices of the peace for the said county, dwelling near to for in the said parish of one whereof is of the Quorum, in] did endeavour to bind A A,a poor male child of the said parish, hose parents are not able to maintain him, apprentice to MM of and for that purpose did prepare and duly execute one pair of indentures pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided: which said pair of indentures was signed and confirmed by us the said two jus tices: and whereas the said M M is duly convicted before us the justices aforesaid, as well upon the oath of as otherwise, for that he the said M M hath refused, and stili doth refuse to receive and provide for the said A A as an apprentice, and also to execute another part of the said indenture, which hath been duly tendered to him by the said churchwardens and overseers of the poor, whereby he the said M M hath forfeited the sum of 10l. These are therefore, in his said majesty's name, to charge and command you forthwith to make distress of the goods and chattels of him the said M M; and if within the space of six days next after such distress by you taken the said sum of 101. together with reasonable charges for taking and keeping the said distress, shall not be paid, that then you do sell the said goods and chattels so by you distrained, and out of the money arising by such sale pay the said sum of 101. to the overseers of the poor of the said parish of where the said offence was committed, for the use of the poor of the said parish; returning the overplus upon demand unto him the said MM, the reasonable charges of taking, keeping, and selling the said distress being thereout first deducted. Herein fail not. Given under our hands and seals the day of in the year The subsequent precedents will shew the form of the pre, vious proceedings. And the justices in sessions are judges of the fitness of the person on whom the apprentice is imposed; and if on an appeal they determine on the question of fitness, and there is no matter of law left, the court of King's Bench, on the order being removed before them, will not interfere: for where two justices bound a poor girl to a merchant, and he appealed to the sessions, where the order was reversed, it being thought unfit to compel a merchant to take an apprentice, the court of King's Bench confirmed the order of sessions; because the act having made persons compellable to take apprentices, and given an appeal to the sessions, it was in the discretion of the justices at sessions to determine whether it was or was not fitting to put an apprentice upon any one; and therefore the court would not disturb what the sessions had done. Minchamp's Case, 2 Salkeld, 491. pl. 57. And as the justices of peace have a power of imposing an apprentice on a master, an indictment will lie for any disobedience to their orders in that respect, either in not receiving, or receiving and after turning off, or not providing for such apprentices; for though the act of parliament prescribes an easier way of procceding by complaint, yet that does not exclude the remedy by indictment*. 6 Modern Rep. 163. Salkeld 381. And the justices may appoint apprentices at any age beyond that of nurture; except perhaps in cases of husbandry; for where a female child of the age of 8 years, was bound out by the overseers, and the object stated in the indentures was to be housewifery, it being objected that this was void on the ground of illegality, the child not being of a sufficient age to warrant it, the stat. 5 Eliz. c. 4, relating to apprentices, limiting the age for binding to the period between 10 and 18, the court held that there was no weight in the objection: for no age is speci fied in the 43 of Eliz. under which this binding was made or in the 8th and 9th of Will. 3, which compels the master to receive the apprentice, and gives the appeal; and although it was argued that under the stat. 5 Eliz. c. 4, it is necessary that the apprentice should be above 10 years of age, and all the subsequent statutes are in pari materiû yet it was said by the court that that statute relates only to husbandry, which may require more bodily strength than most other occupations, and that cannot be connected with the 43 of Eliz. which was made for the maintenance of the poor: and this was the case of a female child bound to housewifery, that in other instances the legislature has not considered seven as too tender an age, for the children of vagrants may at that age be bound out: and the strength and ability of children, which from 7 years to 10 must *See Title FORFEITURES IN PENAL STATUTES, and the Case of the K. v. Robinson, under Title, Poon. Div. IV. vary greatly in point of fitness, in this respect, is matter of con sideration and discretion in the magistrates; and independent of any statutable regulations seven years is at common law the age of puberty. Rex. v. Saltren, Ea. Ter. 24 Geo. 3. Cald. Cas. 444. But as it frequently happens that persons are compellable under the act of Will. III. to take a greater number of parish apprentices than it is convenient for them to employ, and they are forced to assign them over: in order therefore that such assignments may be legally made under the controul of the magistrates, it is enacted by 32 Geo. 3. c. 57, that it shall be lawful for any master of any parish apprentice, upon the binding out of whom no more than 57. shall be paid, by indorse ment (III.) without stamps, on the indenture of apprenticeship, or by other instrument (IV.) in writing, stamped as parish in (III.) The following shall be the form of the assignment, with the consent of two justices, by indorsement on the indenture or counterpart. 32 Geo. 3. c. 57. s. 7. County of BE it remembered, that the within named FM, [the master] by and with the consent and approbation of IP and K P, two of his majesty's justices of the peace for the said county, whose names are subscribed to the consent hereunder written, doth hereby assign AP, the apprentice within named, unto N M, [the new master] to serve him during the residue of the term, within mentioned; and that he the said N M doth hereby agree to accept and take the said A Pas an apprentice for the residue of the said term, and doth hereby acknowledge himself, his executors and administrators, to be bound by the agreements and covenants within mentioned on the part of the said F M, to be done and performed, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and pursuant to the provisions of an act, passed in the thirty second year of the reign of King George the Third, intituled, An act for the further regulation of parish apprentices." In witness whereof, we the said F M and N M have hereunto set our hands, this day of We, two of his majesty's justices of the peace above men. tioned, do consent hereto. Witness our hands this day of 1. P. (IV.) And the following shall be the form of the like assign. ment, by a separate instrument. County off WHEREAS it appears unto us, IP and K P two of his majesty's justices of the peace for the said |