Education (Scotland) Act 1878
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1878 c. 78 |
| Year | 1878 |
Education (Scotland) Act, 1878
(41 & 42 Vict.) CHAPTER 78.
An Act to further amend the provisions of the Law of Scotland on the subject of Education, and for other purposes connected therewith.
[16th August 1878]
B E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theEducation (Scotland) Act, 1878, and this Act and the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, (in this Act referred to as the principal Act,) may be cited together as the Education (Scotland) Acts, 1872 and 1878.
2 Extent of Act.
2. This Act shall extend to Scotland only.
3 Commencement of Act.
3. This Act shall, except in so far as herein-after provided, come into operation on the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight (which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act).
4 Construction of Act.
4. This Act shall be construed as one with the principal Act, and the expression ‘this Act’ in the principal Act shall be construed to include this Act.
5 Regulation as to employment of child under 10, and certificate of knowledge being condition of employment of child over 10.
5. A person shall not, after the commencement of this Act, take into his employment (except as herein-after in this Act mentioned) any child—
(1) (1.) Who is under the age of ten years; or
(2) (2.) Who, being of the age of ten years, and not more than fourteen years, has not obtained a certificate of ability to read and write, and of a knowledge of elementary arithmetic in terms of section seventy-three of the principal Act, unless such child being of the age of ten years or upwards is employed and is attending school in accordance with the provisions of any Act of Parliament regulating the education of children employed in labour, or of any minute of the Scotch Education Department fixing the standard of education to be required for the partial exemption of children from the obligation to attend school.
6 Restriction on casual employment of children.
6. After the commencement of this Act no child under the age of ten years shall, save as herein-after mentioned, be employed in any casual employment, and no child who is above the age of ten years but under the age of fourteen years, shall, save as aforesaid, unless he has obtained a certificate of ability to read and write, and of a knowledge of elementary arithmetic in terms of section seventy-three of the principal Act, be employed in any casual employment after nine o'clock at night, from the first day of April to the first day of October, and after seven o'clock at night from the first day of October to the first day of April.
Casual employment shall mean employment for purposes of gain in streets or other places in vending or exposing for sale any article whatsoever, and also employment of any other kind, outside the child's own home, not being employment the lawful period whereof is regulated by any Act of Parliament.
A school board may, by writing under the hand of the clerk, exempt from the prohibitions of this section any child for a period or periods named in such writing, and not exceeding in the whole six weeks, between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of December in any year.
7 Exception to prohibition of employment of children.
7. A person shall not be deemed to have taken any child into his employment contrary to the provisions of this Act, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the sheriff either—
(1) (1.) That during the employment there is not within three miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the residence of such child any inspected school open which the child can attend; or
(2) (2.) That such employment is during the school holidays, or during the hours during which the school is not open, not being hours during which casual employment is herein-before prohibited; or
(3) (3.) That the employment is exempted by the notice of the school board herein-after next mentioned; (that is to say,)
The school board may, if it thinks fit, issue a notice exempting from the prohibitions and restrictions of this Act the employment of children above the age of eight years, for the necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of crops or to give assistance in the fisheries for the period to be named in such notice: Provided that the period or periods so named by any such school board shall not exceed in the whole six weeks between the first day of January and the thirty-first day of December in any year.
The school board shall cause a copy of every notice so issued to be affixed to the door of all churches and schools in the district.
8 Penalty for employing a child in contravention of Act.
8. Every person who takes a child into his employment in contravention of this Act shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.
9 Definition of employment in case of parent.
9. A parent of a child who employs such child in any labour exercised by way of trade or for the purposes of gain, or who permits such child to be engaged in any such labour on its own behalf, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to take such child into his employment.
10 Enforcement of Act by school board or by inspectors of factories, &c.
10. The provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children shall be enforced in the district of every school board by that board, provided that it shall be the duty of the inspectors and sub-inspectors acting under the Acts regulating factories, workshops, and mines respectively, and not of the school board, to enforce the observance by the employers of children of the provisions of this Act respecting the employment of children in such factories, workshops, and mines; but it shall be the duty of the school board to assist the said inspectors and sub-inspectors in the performance of their duty by information and otherwise.
11 Certificates of birth for purposes of Acts.
11. Where the age of any child is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, any person, on presenting a written requisition in such form, and containing such particulars as may be from time to time prescribed by a Secretary of State, and on payment of such fee, not exceeding one shilling, as a Secretary of State from time to time fixes, shall be entitled to obtain an extract under the hand of the registrar, under the Act of the seventeenth and eighteenth years of Her present Majesty, chapter eighty, and any Acts amending the same, of the entry in the registry kept under those Acts.
12 Power of officer of school board to enter place of employment.
12. If it appears to any sheriff, on the complaint of an officer of a school board acting under this Act, that there is reasonable cause to believe that a child is employed in contravention of this Act in any place, whether a building or not, such sheriff may by order under his hand empower an officer of the school board to enter such place at any reasonable time within forty-eight hours from the date of the order, and examine such place, and any person found therein touching the employment of any child therein.
Any person refusing admission to an officer authorised by an order under this section, or obstructing him in the discharge of his duty, shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction before the sheriff to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.
13 Exemption of employer on proof of guilt of some other person.
13. Where the offence of taking a child into employment in contravention of this Act is in fact committed by an agent or workman of the employer, such agent or workman shall be liable to a penalty as if he were the employer.
Where a child is taken into employment in contravention of this Act on the production by, or with the privity of, the parent of a false or forged certificate, or on the false representation of his parent that the child is of an age at which such employment is not in contravention of this Act, that parent shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.
Where an employer charged with taking a child into his employment in contravention of this Act proves that he has used due diligence to enforce the observance of this Act, and either that some agent or workman of his employed the child without his knowledge or consent, or that the child was employed either on the production of a forged or false certificate, and under the belief in good faith in the genuineness and truth of such certificate, or on the representation by his parent that the child was of an age at which his employment would not be in contravention of this Act, and under the belief in good faith in such representation, the employer shall be exempt from any penalty.
Where an employer satisfies the school board, or other person about to institute a prosecution that he is exempt under this section by reason of some agent, workman, or parent being guilty, and gives all facilities in his power for proceeding against, and convicting such agent, workman, or parent, such school board, or person, shall institute proceedings against...
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