The Statute of Artificers 1562 or the Artificers and Apprentices Act 1562 (5 Eliz. 1. c. 4) was an Act of Parliament of England, under Queen Elizabeth I, which sought to fix prices, impose maximum wages, restrict workers' freedom of movement and regulate training. The causes of the measures were short-term labour shortages due to mortality from epidemic disease, as well as, inflation, poverty, and general social disorder.[1] Local magistrates had responsibility for regulating wages in agriculture. Guilds regulated wages of the urban trades. Effectively, it transferred to the newly forming English state the functions previously held by the feudal craft guilds.[2] The measure sought to make agriculture a trade and a national priority of employment.[3]
The Act controlled entry into the class of skilled workmen by providing a compulsory seven years' apprenticeship, reserved the superior trades for the sons of the better off, empowered justices to require unemployed artificers to work in husbandry, required permission for a workman to transfer from one employer to another and empowered justices to fix wage rates for virtually all classes of workmen.
Section 15 required justices at general sessions to set a yearly wage assessment ‘respecting the plenty or scarcity of the time’, covering ‘so many of the said artificers, handicraftsmen, husbandmen or any other labourer, servant or workman, whose wages in time past hath been by any law or statute rated and appointed, as also the wages of all other labourers, artificers, workmen or apprentices of husbandry, which have not been rated as they [the justices] … shall think meet by their directions to be rated...’ Sections 18-19 provided that if employers and workers agreed wages above the set rates, they could be imprisoned.
Hobbs v Young (1689) 1 Show KB 266, Holt CJ, on apprentices under the 1562 Statute
Because the 1562 Act had carefully listed all the trades to which it applied, it was held that it did not extend to trades which had not existed when it was passed.[4]
Repealedit
The statute was abolished by the Wages, etc., of Artificers, etc. Act 1813[5] as enlightened thought challenged existing notions of 'privilege'. This development was one of a series of initiatives that the British Parliament undertook to support the vastly changed economic climate of the nineteenth century.[6] After that it was no longer possible to prosecute anyone who practised a trade without having served a seven-year term.[7]
S Deakin and F Wilkinson, The Law of the Labour Market: Industrialization, Employment, and Legal Evolution (2005) ch 2
EK Hunt, History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective (M.E. Sharpe, 2002) ISBN0-7656-0607-0
J Mokyr, The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850 (New Haven, Yale UP, 2009) ISBN978-0-300-12455-2
External linksedit
Statute of Artificers, 1563
Donald Woodward (1980) The Background to the Statute of Artificers: The Genesis of Labour Policy, 1558-63, The Economic History Review, volume 33, number 1, pages 32–44.
April 11, 2024
statute, artificers, 1562, artificers, apprentices, 1562, eliz, parliament, england, under, queen, elizabeth, which, sought, prices, impose, maximum, wages, restrict, workers, freedom, movement, regulate, training, causes, measures, were, short, term, labour, . The Statute of Artificers 1562 or the Artificers and Apprentices Act 1562 5 Eliz 1 c 4 was an Act of Parliament of England under Queen Elizabeth I which sought to fix prices impose maximum wages restrict workers freedom of movement and regulate training The causes of the measures were short term labour shortages due to mortality from epidemic disease as well as inflation poverty and general social disorder 1 Local magistrates had responsibility for regulating wages in agriculture Guilds regulated wages of the urban trades Effectively it transferred to the newly forming English state the functions previously held by the feudal craft guilds 2 The measure sought to make agriculture a trade and a national priority of employment 3 Statute of Artificers 1562Act of ParliamentParliament of EnglandLong titleAn Act containing divers Orders for Artificers Labourers Servants of Husbandry and Apprentices Citation5 Eliz 1 c 4DatesRoyal assent10 April 1563Other legislationRepealed byConspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875Status Repealed Contents 1 Content and case law 2 Repeal 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksContent and case law editThe Act controlled entry into the class of skilled workmen by providing a compulsory seven years apprenticeship reserved the superior trades for the sons of the better off empowered justices to require unemployed artificers to work in husbandry required permission for a workman to transfer from one employer to another and empowered justices to fix wage rates for virtually all classes of workmen Section 15 required justices at general sessions to set a yearly wage assessment respecting the plenty or scarcity of the time covering so many of the said artificers handicraftsmen husbandmen or any other labourer servant or workman whose wages in time past hath been by any law or statute rated and appointed as also the wages of all other labourers artificers workmen or apprentices of husbandry which have not been rated as they the justices shall think meet by their directions to be rated Sections 18 19 provided that if employers and workers agreed wages above the set rates they could be imprisoned Hobbs v Young 1689 1 Show KB 266 Holt CJ on apprentices under the 1562 StatuteBecause the 1562 Act had carefully listed all the trades to which it applied it was held that it did not extend to trades which had not existed when it was passed 4 Repeal editThe statute was abolished by the Wages etc of Artificers etc Act 1813 5 as enlightened thought challenged existing notions of privilege This development was one of a series of initiatives that the British Parliament undertook to support the vastly changed economic climate of the nineteenth century 6 After that it was no longer possible to prosecute anyone who practised a trade without having served a seven year term 7 See also editUK labour law Labour law History of competition law Ordinance of Labourers 1349 and Statute of Labourers 1351 which after the Black Death fixed maximum wages of peasantry Notes edit Holderness B A 1976 Pre industrial England economy and society 1500 1750 London J M Dent p 194 ISBN 0 87471 910 0 Hunt 2002 p 22 Holderness 1976 194 Apprenticeship in England 53 Geo 3 c 40 Mokyr 2009 p 67 Apprenticeship in EnglandReferences editS Deakin and F Wilkinson The Law of the Labour Market Industrialization Employment and Legal Evolution 2005 ch 2 EK Hunt History of Economic Thought A Critical Perspective M E Sharpe 2002 ISBN 0 7656 0607 0 J Mokyr The Enlightened Economy An Economic History of Britain 1700 1850 New Haven Yale UP 2009 ISBN 978 0 300 12455 2External links editStatute of Artificers 1563 Donald Woodward 1980 The Background to the Statute of Artificers The Genesis of Labour Policy 1558 63 The Economic History Review volume 33 number 1 pages 32 44 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Statute of Artificers 1562 amp oldid 1205988244, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
