In general, a servant, if he refuse to- entex the service, or leave it without cause, is merely liable to an action of damages for breach of contract,which is no remedy at all, as few servants are worth the expense of a suit. As this conduct, however, might often cause great hardship to masters, especially where they are employed in trade or manufactures, statutes have been passed which give a power to justices of the peace to compel the ser vant to remain in the service until he give the legal notice to leave. This was formerly done by punishing the servant who left the service without just cause by imprisonment. This law, complained of by workmen as one-sided, was modified by the employers and workmen act (1875), which gives county courts enlarged pow-ers in regard to payment of money, rescission of contract, and taking of security as between employers and work men; and by the conspiracy act (1875), which, while deciding that in trade disputes no combination shall be indictable if the act contemplated done by one person would not be so, makes special criminal provision in case of persons employed by gas aud wgter com panies.
In Scotland the law as to master and servant differs from the above in several particu lars, of which the following are the most important. With regard to domestic servants, in towns, if nothing is said, then the hiring is for half a year, and cannot be put ean end to without 40 days' warning before the end of the half year; and if the servant is dismissed without just cause, he or she can claim not only wages but board-wages till the end of the term. In case of the plaster's death the servant can clahn wages for the whole of the current term, but is bound in that case to serve the executors, or look out for another situation. In c,ase of the master's bankruptcy the servant is a privileged debtor for the wages of the current term. In most other respects the law as to servants is the same as in England. The statutes enabling justices of the peace to imprison defaulting workmen and artificers have been modified.