Penalty on Aon-payment of duties. tender the indenture to be stamped, within two years after the termination of the apprenticeship, and before suit hath been commenced for the penalties, the indenture shall be valid, and the penalties discharged. (S. 5.) And if after the master shall have forfeited the double duty, the apprentice shall in the presence of, or by writing under his hand, signed in the presence of one witness, require his master to pay the same, and the master shall not do it in three months, and such apprentice shall at any time within two years after the determination of his apprenticeship, pay the double duty, he may in three months after such payment demand of his master double the sum contracted for in the indenture, and if not paid in three months after, may recover the same by action at law, with full costs. And the apprentice immediately after payment of the said double duties (if his apprenticeship shall not be then expired) and signifying by writing under his hand, that he desires to be discharged from his apprenticeship, shall be discharged accordingly, and shall have the same benefit of the time he hath served as he would have had in case he had been assigned, or turned over to a new master. (S. 6, 7.) And where any prosecution shall be commenced against the master for the penalties, if the apprentice shall pay the double duty at any time in two years after the end of his apprenticeship, he may thereupon exercise his trade, and the indenture shall be valid, and may be given in evidence. (S. 8.) It should seem also, that independently of these non-payment regulations, if any action were brought by an ap. Penalty on prentice against his master for breach of covenant, of duties. the former might have a rule nisi of the court, for the defendant to produce the indenture before the commissioners of the stamp-office, to be stamped, and also to give the plaintiff a copy of it in order that he may declare thereon (y). There is frequently an indemnity act passed, similar to the 42 Geo. 3. c. 23. s. 7. enacting, that on payment before a named day, of double the duty, the indenture may be stamped, and shall be good to all intents, as if duly stamped in the first instance, and indemnifying the master from penalties when no prosecution has been commenced. We have seen, as far as regards the stamp duty, Counterpart, no duplicate is necessary (z), nor, independently of that regulation, is any counterpart absolutely necessary (a); and notwithstanding the enactment in the 8 and 9 Wm. 3. c. 5. a pauper was held well settled under indentures that were unexecuted by the master, and of which there was no counterpart (b). But it is prudent to have a counterpart, and in the case of an apprentice to the seaservice, a counterpart is required to be executed by 2 & 3 Ann. c. 6. s. 11. indenture. It is necessary, according to the custom of some of the enrolplaces, that the indenture should be enrolled; as in ment of the London, if the indenture be not enrolled before the chamberlain, within a year, upon a petition to the mayor and aldermen, a scire facias may be issued (y) Tidd. Prac. 4th edit. 431. 525.-Abbott on Ship. ping, 389. (*) Ante, 52,3. (a) Burn. J. tit. Apprentice, III. page 96. (b) Caldecot. p. 31.-2 Bott 381. ment of the indenture. Of the enrol- to the master, to shew cause why the indenture has not been enrolled, and if it was through the master's default, the apprentice may sue out his indenture and be discharged; but it is otherwise, if it was through the default of the apprentice, as if he could not come to present himself before the chamberlain, &c. for they cannot be enrolled unless the apprentice be in court and acknowledge them (c). However, it is said, that if the apprentice refuse to appear to have the indenture enrolled, the master may record the indenture, which will be tantamount (d). If the indenture be enrolled, then in an action by the master against the apprentice, it will not be necessary to prove the execution of the deed by the defendant, but otherwise it will (e). But it has been held that the custom of London that an infant who binds himself apprentice, shall be liable to be sued, does not extend to an infant bound to a waterman, because the Company of Watermen are but a voluntary society, and being free of that does not make one free of London (ƒ).. The 5th Eliz. c. 5. s. 12. directs that where persons bind themselves apprentice to masters in the seafaring line, their indentures shall be enrolled in the next corporate town (g). ment of the When, by the constitution of a corporation, the of the enrol indenture ought by custom to be enrolled within a indenture. specified time from the date, the Court of King's Bench will by mandamus, compel the proper officer to enrol it, unless it appear that the apprentice was not bound according to the constitution of the corporation (h). With a view to securing the due payment of the duty on apprenticeship premiums, it was enacted by the 5 Geo. 3. c. 46. s. 18. that the chamberlain and other proper officer of every city, &c. where any apprentice obtains his freedom by servitude, shall enrol the name of every apprentice who shall be placed out within such city, and the name of the master and mistress, the apprentice fee, the trade, and the dates of the indenture, on pain of twenty pounds; but the omission to enrol the indenture cannot be taken advantage of by the defendant in an action against a third person (i). (h) 2 Term Rep. 2. and see Peakes cases, 159. where Lord Kenyon alluded to such a cus. tom. (i) 6 Mod, 69. CHAPTER III. OF THE SERVICE UNDER THE INDENTURE OF IN this chapter we will consider the service of the apprentice under the indenture-The respective rights and liabilities of the master and apprentice The assignment and turning over of the apprentice, and the modes on which the contract may be dissolved. I. OF THE SERVICE UNDER THE INDENTURE, AND Service under the indenture. The apprentice must serve in pursuance of the indenture during the whole term of seven years, or he will not be entitled to set up in trade; and to acquire a settlement he must at least serve forty days, in conformity to the covenants in the indenture, and where a bye-law requires a service within a borough to entitle an apprentice to his freedom, |