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whence he concludes it to be part of the common law (k). The difficulty arises from hence, that no statute has expressly declared this power to be in the crown, though many of them very strongly imply it. The statute 2 Ric. II. c. 4, speaks of mariners being arrested and retained for the king's service as of a thing well known, and practised without dispute; and provides a remedy against their running away. By a later statute (1), if any waterman who uses the river Thames shall hide himself during the execution of any commission of pressing for the king's service, he is liable to heavy penalties. By another (m), no fisherman shall be taken by the Queen's commission to serve as a mariner; but the commission shall be first brought to two justices of the peace, inhabiting near the sea coast where the mariners are to be taken, to the intent [ *420] that the justices may *chuse out and return such a number of able-bodied men as in the commission are contained, to serve her majesty. And by others (n) especial protections are allowed to seamen in particular circumstances, to prevent them

(k) See also Comb. 245; Barr. 334.
(1) Stat. 2 & 3 Ph. & M. c. 16.
(m) Stat. 5 Eliz. c. 5.

(n) See stat. 7 & 8 W. III. c. 21; 2

Ann. c. 6; 4 & 5 Ann. c. 19; 13 Geo.
II. c. 17; 2 Geo. III. c. 15; 11 Geo.
III. c. 38; 19 Geo. III. c. 75, &c.

misfortune? We are accustomed, in
this country, to boast of our superior
freedom in being exempt from the mi-
litary conscriptions to which most other
states are subject; but (not to mention
our, proper, liability to the militia
ballot,) we have little reason for any
such boast, whilst the law of impress-
ment is in force. In calling for the
services of every subject of a state, in
rotation and without distinction, for a
limited term, and for the defence of his
own hearth, there is neither inequality
nor unfair infringement of liberty; but,
can this be truly said when the call for
foreign service is enforced only against
one portion of the people? Some
alleviation of the hardship of impress-
ment has been made by the statute
of 5 & 6 Gul. IV. c. 24, which enacts,

that no person shall be liable to be detained against his consent in the royal navy for a longer period than three years; but, the commanding officer of the squadron under whose command a seaman may be, when his regular time of service has expired, may, in cases of emergency, detain him for a further period of six months, or until such emergency shall have ceased. The last recited discretionary power makes it very improbable that any impressed seaman should ever obtain his discharge during time of war. After an impressed seaman has been discharged, however long he may have served compulsorily, his protection against re-impressment lasts, in no case, more than two years.

See ante, p. 414, n. 13.

from being impressed. And ferrymen are also said to be privileged from being impressed, at common law (o). All which do most evidently imply a power of impressing to reside somewhere; and, if any where, it must, from the spirit of our constitution, as well as from the frequent mention of the king's commission, reside in the crown alone.

But, besides this method of impressing, which is only defensible from public necessity, to which all private considerations must give way, there are other ways that tend to the increase of seamen, and manning the royal navy. Parishes may bind out poor boys apprentices to masters of merchantmen (22), who shall be protected from impressing for the first three years; and, if they are impressed afterwards, the masters shall be allowed their wages (p): great advantages in point of wages are given to volunteer seamen, in order to induce them to enter into his majesty's service (q); and every foreign seaman, who during a war shall serve two years in any man of war, merchantman, or privateer, is naturalized ipso facto (r). About the middle of King William's reign, a scheme was set on foot (s) for a register of seamen to the number of thirty thousand, for a constant and regular supply of the king's fleet; with great privileges to the registered men, and, on the other hand, heavy penalties in case of their non-appearance when called for: but this registry, being judged to be ineffectual as well as oppressive, was abolished by statute 9 Ann. c. 21 (23). 2. The method of ordering seamen in the royal fleet, and 2. Discipline of keeping up a regular discipline there, is directed by certain express rules, articles, and orders, first enacted by the autho rity of parliament soon after the restoration (t); but since new-modelled and altered, after the peace of Aix-la-Cha(0) Sav. 14.

(p) Stat. 2 Ann. c. 6.

(q) Stat. 31 Geo. II. c. 10.

(r) Stat. 13 Geo. II. c. 3.
(s) Stat. 7 & 8 W. III. c. 21.
(t) Stat. 13 Car. II. st. 1, c. 9.

the fleet.

(22) New regulations are made as to this matter, by the statute of 5 & 6 Gul. IV. c. 19, ss. 26-39.

(23) But, the statute of 5 & 6 Gul. IV. c. 19, after reciting that," the prosperity, strength, and safety of His Majesty's dominions do principally

depend on a large, constant, and ready
supply of seamen, as well for carrying
on the commerce as for the defence.
thereof," proceeds to enact, that a
register of all merchant seamen shall
be kept.

3 Privileges of sailors.

pelle (u), to remedy some defects which were of fatal conse-
quence in conducting the preceding war. In these articles of
the navy almost every possible offence is set down, and the
punishment thereof annexed: in which respect the seamen
have much the advantage over their brethren in the land ser-
vice, whose articles of war are not enacted by parliament, but
framed from time to time at the pleasure of the crown. Yet
from whence this distinction arose, and why the executive
power, which is limited so properly with regard to the navy,
should be so extensive with regard to the army, it is hard to
assign a reason: unless it proceeded from the perpetual esta-
blishment of the navy, which rendered a permanent law for
their regulation expedient; and the temporary duration of the
army, which subsisted only from year to year, and might there-
fore with less danger be subjected to discretionary govern-
ment. But, whatever was apprehended at the first formation
of the mutiny act, the regular renewal of our standing force
at the entrance of every year has made this distinction idle.
For, if from experience past we may judge of future events,
the army is now lastingly ingrafted into the British constitu-
tion, with this singularly fortunate circumstance, that any
branch of the legislature may annually put an end to its legal
existence, by refusing to concur in its continuance (24).

3. With regard to the privileges conferred on sailors, they
are pretty much the same with those conferred on soldiers;
with regard to relief when maimed or wounded, or superan-
nuated, either by county rates or the royal hospital at Green-
wich; with regard also to the exercise of trades, and the power
of making nuncupative testaments; and, farther (w), no sea-
man aboard his majesty's ships can be arrested for any debt,
unless the same be sworn to amount to at least twenty pounds;
though, by the annual mutiny acts, a soldier may be arrested
for a debt which extends to half that value, but not to a less
amount (25).

(u) Stat. 22 Geo. II. c. 23, amended by 19 Geo. III. c. 17.
(w) Stat. 31 Geo. II. c. 10.

(24) See ante, p. 412, n. 8.

(25) Here it may not be improper to add, that, since the time of queen Anne, a variety of statutes have been

passed to encourage attempts to dis-
cover the longitude at sea: and by the
14 Geo. III. c. 66, which has repealed
the former statutes, it is enacted, that

1

the author of any useful and practicable plan to discover the longitude at sea, either by time-keepers or astronomical calculations, shall be entitled to a reward of 5000l. if the longitude can be determined at sea within a degree of a great circle, or sixty geographical miles; to 75001. if within of a degree; and to 10,000l. if within a degree. And if any useful discovery shall be made respecting the longitude, though not entitled to those great rewards, or if any beneficial improvement shall be introduced into navigation, the commissioners of the longitude may award such less sum as they think the ingenuity or industry of the author deserves.

And by 16 Geo. III. c. 6, if any ship discovers a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, beyond the 52nd degree north latitude, the owner or commander, if a king's ship, shall receive 20,000l.; and 5000l. shall be given in like manner to the first ship that shall approach within one degree of the north pole.-CH.

[By the stat. of 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 71, no person whatever can be arrested on mesne process where the debt or cause of action is under twenty pounds. The statute of 1 Gul. IV. c. 14, s. 3, enacts that no marine, and the stat. of I Gul. IV. c. 15, s. 3, enacts that no soldier, shall be arrested for a debt under thirty pounds.-ED.]

422

CHAPTER XIV.

OF MASTER AND SERVANT.

Of the rights of persons in their private economical relations.

1. Master and servant.

2. Husband and wife.

3. Parent and child.

4. Guardian and ward.

[ *423 ]

HAVING thus commented on the rights and duties of persons, as standing in the public relations of magistrates and people, the method I have marked out now leads me to consider their rights and duties in private œconomical relations.

The three great relations in private life are, 1. That of master and servant (1); which is founded in convenience, whereby a man is directed to call in the assistance of others, where his own skill and labour will not be sufficient to answer the cares incumbent upon him. 2. That of husband and wife; which is founded in nature, but modified by civil society: the one directing man to continue and multiply his species, the other prescribing the manner in which that natural impulse must be confined and regulated. 3. That of parent and child, which is consequential to that of marriage, being its principal end and design: and it is by virtue of this relation that infants are protected, maintained, and educated. But, since the parents, on whom this care is primarily incumbent, may be snatched away by death before they have completed their duty, the law has therefore provided a fourth relation; 4. That of guardian and ward, which is a kind of artificial parentage, in order to supply the deficiency, whenever it happens, of the natural. Of all these relations in their order.

*In discussing the relation of master and servant, I shall, first, consider the several sorts of servants, and how this relation is created and destroyed; secondly, the effect of this relation with regard to the parties themselves; and, lastly, its effect with regard to other persons.

(1) The subject of injuries to the rights which arise from the relation

between master and servant is discussed in Vol. 3, p. 141.

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