EMDLoYERS' LIABILITY. Under the common law the employer is liable in pecuniary damages for the bodily injury or death of his employees by accident when in his employ, in so far as such accident is not due to the negligence, direct or eontrilnitory, of the employee. But the rigor of this rule was greatly modified by the principle which relievecl the employer of liability in case the accident •a.: traceable. not to his negligence, but to that of another employee. (See FELLOW SERVANTS. ) rietly construed, this doctrine made it practically hnpossible for the laboring man to avail himself of this liability, as be was forced to prove the negligence of the employer. Legislation has been invoked in England and in the United States to remove this difficulty. Such laws declare the employer directly liable for all accidents except in case of negligence of the per son injured. or In a less extreme form attempt to define who are fellow servants. The effect of such legislation is to place upon the employer the burden of proof that the injured workman was negligent. Such laws apply in a number of States to railroads, but in a very few eases to employees generally. In Europe such laws are more frequent, and are especially favorable to the workman in England and Switzerland.
The labor legislation of England has not only been imitated in the United States, but has been widely copied in the industrial countries of Con tinentaI Europe and in the English colonies. While certain general features, such as factory inspection and limitation of the hours of labor of children and women, are common to all, the labor codes of the various countries show marked individuality, as the result of peculiar condi tions or of historic tradition. Deuce we find
the different aspects of the labor laws in dif ferent stages of development in the different count ries.
(4:umAxv. In Germany (and this is true of Continental Europe generally) the main interest in labor legislation has centred about the ques tion of employers' liability and the evils it is designed to meet. After struggling for some time with a liability law which gave very un satisfactory results, Germany was led to intro duce the insurance principle as a means of alleviating the suffering caused by accidents to workingmen in industrial pursuits. From pro tecting the workman and his family from the effects of accidents directly attributable to his occupation, it was an easy step to extend this protection to sickness, which in many eases was also incident to the occupation. A still further step has been taken in providing by insurance against the incapacity of old age. This domi nant feature of the legislation of Continental countries is treated more fully in the article 1Voaxf NC NI EN'S INSURANCE.
A usTaAmA. Of all countries, the Australasian eolonies of Great Britain have been most radical in their labor legislation. Industrial labor is most directly affected by the laws providing for compulsory arbitration of all labor disputes.
See INDUSTRIAL A RBITRATION AND CONCILIATION; TRADE lTN ioNs ; CoNVICT LABOR.