Master and Servant Act in Britain

Use in Britain

During the 1860s, punitive provisions were extended by judicial interpretation by imprisoning union officials who led strikes or issued verbal calls challenging an employer’s hiring practices or use of non-union labor. A revised Master and Servant Act was passed in 1867, which supposedly limited imprisonment to “aggravated� breaches of contract (where injury to persons or property was likely to result), but it was clear that only workers were subject to its provisions. Imprisonment even for non-aggravated breaches of contract continued, when working people failed to comply with court orders for specific performance or for non-payment of monetary damages and fines.

Between 1858 and 1875 on average 10,000 prosecutions a year took place under the Act in Britain. Ernest Jones, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, estimated "In one year alone, 1864, the last return given, under the Master and Servants Act, 10,246 working men were imprisoned at the suit of their masters — not one master at the suit of the men!".

Master and Servant Act in Britain

The Master and Servants Act was the culmination of a series of laws designed to regulate relations between employers and employees during the 18th and 19th centuries, although heavily biased on the employers' terms. It was instituted in 1823 in Great Britain and described its purpose as "for the better regulations of servants, labourers and work people". This law greatly influenced labor relations and Employment law in the USA, Canada (1847), Australia (1845), New Zealand (1856) and South Africa (1856). In reality the law was designed to discipline employees and repress the 'combination' of workers in labour unions.

The law required the obedience and loyalty from servants to their contracted employer, with infringements of the contract punishable before a court of law, often with a jail sentence of hard labour. It was used against workers organising for better conditions from its inception until well after the first Trade Union Act was implemented in Great Britain in 1871, which secured the legal status of trade unions. Up till then a trade union could be regarded as criminal because of being "in restraint of trade".

Use in Australia

Masters and Servants Act (1902) N.S.W.As little as one hour’s absence by a free servant without permission could precipitate a punishment of prison or the treadmill. Employees in Australia in 1840 who left their employment without permission were subject to being hunted down under the Bushrangers Act. In the Melbourne jurisdiction, in the years 1835 to 1845, when labour shortages were acute, over 20% of prison inmates had been convicted under the New South Wales Act for offences including leaving place of work without permission and being found in hotels.

By 1902 the Act had been partially modified to include forfeit of wages if the written or unwritten contract for work was unfulfilled. Absence from place of work was punishable by imprisonment of up to three months with or without hard labour. There were also penalties of up to 10 pounds for anyone who harbours, conceals or re-employs a 'servant' (ie. worker) who has deserted or absconded or absented himself from his duty implied in the 'contract'.

The Act is not a widely-remembered part of Australian political history (although there is a more general association of unacceptable exploitation of workers with the Victorian period). In 2006 a group of trade unionists referred to the act in their criticism of the "WorkChoices" industrial relations policies of the Howard government, claiming that "Our rights as workers are back where they were in the early 1800’s - the only thing now missing is a Master - Servants Act." Similar comparisons have been made by social commentators, unionists and politicians.

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