The chief purpose of the Employers and Workmen Act 1875 was to provide a simple pro cedure for the settlement of disputes between a workman and his employer, or an apprentice and his master. In the first place, the powers of the county courts in such matters were extended in various ways, for instance by giving them a wider discretion to adjust and set off one against the other the respective claims of employer and workman arising out of the contract, and by authorizing them to rescind any contract of service upon such terms as to the apportionment of wages or payment of damages as may appear just. A still more important change made by the Act was to give to courts of summary jurisdiction, whose normal function is to deal with offences of a criminal or quasi-criminal nature, power to hear and determine with the same powers as a county court purely civil disputes between an employer and a workman arising out of the contract of service, where the amount claimed does not exceed II°. This arrangement gives the work man very quick and cheap facilities for suing his employer for small amounts of wages. The Act also gives the courts of sum
mary jurisdiction wide powers in dealing with disputes between masters and apprentices. They may even make an order directing an apprentice to perform his duties and order him to be impris oned for a term not exceeding 14 days if he fails to comply; or the court may rescind the instrument of apprenticeship altogether, and, in suitable circumstances, may order the whole or any part of the premium paid by the apprentice to be repaid. The definition of "workmen" to whom this Act applies is given above. It should be noted that seamen, originally expressly excluded from the scope of the Act, are now included, the section excluding them having been repealed to that extent. It may be observed too that workers under 2 I have the special right to sue for wages up to L 10o in their own name, as if they were of full age (County Courts Act 1888, s. 96, as amended by the County Courts Act, 1903).