Employers and Workmen Act 1875
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1875 c. 90 |
| Year | 1875 |
Employers and Workmen Act, 1875
(38 & 39 Vict.) CHAPTER 90.
An Act to enlarge the powers of County Courts in respect of disputes between Employers and Workmen, and to give other Courts a limited civil jurisdiction in respect of such disputes.
[13th August 1875]
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:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theEmployers and Workmen Act, 1875.
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act, except so far as it authorises any rules to be made or other thing to be done at any time after the passing of this Act, shall come into operation on the first day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Part I.
Jurisdiction—Jurisdiction of County Court.
3 Power of county court as to ordering of payment of money, set-off, and rescission of contract and taking security.
3. In any proceeding before a county court in relation to any dispute between an employer and a workman arising out of or incidental to their relation as such (which dispute is herein-after referred to as a dispute under this Act) the court may, in addition to any jurisdiction it might have exercised if this Act had not passed, exercise all or any of the following powers; that is to say,
(1) (1.) It may adjust and set off the one against the other all such claims on the part either of the employer or of the workman, arising out of or incidental to the relation between them, as the court may find to be subsisting, whether such claims are liquidated or unliquidated, and are for wages, damages, or otherwise; and,
(2) (2.) If, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it thinks it just to do so, it may rescind any contract between the employer and the workman upon such terms as to the apportionment of wages or other sums due thereunder, and as to the payment of wages or damages, or other sums due, as it thinks just; and,
(3) (3.) Where the court might otherwise award damages for any breach of contract it may, if the defendant be willing to give security to the satisfaction of the court for the performance by him of so much of his contract as remains unperformed, with the consent of the plaintiff, accept such security, and order performance of the contract accordingly, in place either of the whole of the damages which would otherwise have been awarded, or some part of such damages.
The security shall be an undertaking by the defendant and one or more surety or sureties that the defendant will perform his contract, subject on non-performance to the payment of a sum to be specified in the undertaking.
Any sum paid by a surety on behalf of a defendant in respect of a security under this Act, together with all costs incurred by such surety in respect of such security, shall be deemed to be a debt due to him from the defendant; and where such security has been given in or under the direction of a court of summary jurisdiction, that court may order payment to the surety of the sum which has so become due to him from the defendant.
Court of Summary Jurisdiction.
4 Jurisdiction of justices in disputes between employers and workmen.
4. A dispute under this Act between an employer and a workman may be heard and determined by a court of summary jurisdiction, and such court, for the purposes of this Act, shall be deemed to be a court of civil jurisdiction, and in a proceeding in relation to any such dispute the court may order payment of any sum which it may find to be due as wages, or damages, or otherwise, and may exercise all or any of the powers by this Act conferred on a county court: Provided that in any proceeding in relation to any such dispute the court of summary jurisdiction—
(1) (1.) Shall not exercise any jurisdiction where the amount claimed exceeds ten pounds; and
(2) (2.) Shall not make an order for the payment of any sum exceeding ten pounds, exclusive of the costs incurred in the case; and
(3) (3.) Shall not require security to an amount exceeding ten pounds from any defendant or his surety or sureties.
5 Jurisdiction of justices in disputes between masters and apprentices.
5. Any dispute between an apprentice to whom this Act applies and his master, arising out of or incidental to their relation as such, (which dispute is herein-after referred to as a dispute under this Act,) may be heard and determined by a court of summary jurisdiction.
6 Powers of justices in respect of apprentices.
6. In a proceeding before a court of summary jurisdiction in relation to a dispute under this Act between a master and an apprentice, the court shall have the same powers as if the dispute were between an employer and a workman, and the master were the employer and the apprentice the workman, and the instrument of apprenticeship a contract between an employer and a workman, and shall also have the following powers:
(1) (1.) It may make an order directing the apprentice to perform his duties under the apprenticeship; and
(2) (2.) If it rescinds the instrument of apprenticeship it may, if it thinks it just so to do, order the whole or any part of the premium paid on the binding of the apprentice to be repaid.
Where an order is made directing an apprentice to perform his duties under the apprenticeship, the court may, from time to time, if satisfied after the expiration of not less than one month from the date of the order that the apprentice has failed to comply therewith, order him to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding fourteen days.
7 Order against surety of apprentice, and power to friend of apprentice to give security.
7. In a proceeding before a court of summary jurisdiction in relation to a dispute under this Act between a master and an apprentice, if there is any person liable, under the instrument of apprenticeship, for the good conduct of the apprentice, that person may, if the court so direct, be summoned in like manner as if he were the defendant in such proceeding to attend on the...
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