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"If any person or persons, having before been in service, shall, when offering to hire himself, herself, or themselves as a servant or servants in any service whatsoever, falsely and wilfully pretend not to have been hired or retained in any previous service as a servant;

"Any person convicted of any of the above offences before two or more justices of the peace is to forfeit £20 (one-half of which is to go to the person on whose information the conviction is obtained,* and the other half to the poor of the parish in which the offence was committed), or is, in default of payment, to be imprisoned with hard labour for not more than three months, or less than one."

An appeal lies from the decision of the justices, whether they convict or refuse to do so, to the court of quarter sessions.

* This need not be the master or employer who is defrauded. Any person who knows of an offence having been committed under this act may inform, and thus entitle himself to half the penalty. The informer is a competent witness to prove the offence; and it will be evidence that he has heard the person accused say that he or she has been guilty of an act in contravention of the statute. It will, of course, be for the justices to say how far they will act on such evidence, unsupported by other circumstances or the testimony of other witnesses.

CHAPTER XII.

OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES

ON THE PART OF MASTERS

OR SERVANTS.

Neglect to provide Servant with Food, &c.-Larceny by Servants.— Embezzlement.

Ir a master or servant commits an offence of which the other is the victim, the criminal is for the most part punishable in exactly the same way as if he were a stranger. But there are some cases in which this rule does not apply. We only propose in this chapter to notice such offences as arise out of a breach of the relation of master and servant, or which assume a graver character in consequence of being committed by one or the other. Again, we shall confine ourselves here to such offences as are of general application, dealing in a subsequent chapter with such as are the subject of special enactments for the regulation of particular trades or employments.

J.-OFFENCE BY MASTER.

By 24 and 25 Vict., c. 103, s. 26, whosoever, being legally liable, either as a master or mistress, to provide for any apprentice or servant necessary food, clothing,

or lodging, shall wilfully, and without lawful excuse, refuse or neglect to provide the same,* or shall unlawfully or maliciously do or cause to be done any bodily harm to any such apprentice or servant, so that the life of such apprentice or servant shall be endangered, or the health of such apprentice or servant shall have been, or shall be likely to be, permanently injured, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for the term of three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.

II.-OFFENCES BY SERVANTS.

1. As to Larceny by Servants (24 and 25 Vict., c. 96, s. 67)." Whosoever, being a clerk or servant, or being employed for the purpose or in the capacity of clerk or servant, shall steal any chattel, money, or valuable security belonging to or in the possession or power of his master or employer, shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years, and not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement, and if a male under the age of sixteen, with or without whipping."

* i.e., so as to endanger the life, or to inflict, or run the probable risk of inflicting, a permanent injury to the health of the servant. See also, as to the construction of this act, ante, p. 49.

2. As to Embezzlement by Clerks or Servants (24 and 25 Vict., c. 96, s. 68).—"Whosoever, being a clerk or servant, or being employed for the purpose or in the capacity of a clerk or servant, shall fraudulently embezzle any chattel, money, or valuable security which shall be delivered to, or received, or taken possession of, by him for or in the name or on account of his master or employer, or any part thereof, shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his master or employer, although such chattel, money, or security was not received into the possession of such master or employer otherwise than by the actual possession of, his clerk, servant, or other person so employed, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years, and not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement, and if a male under the age of sixteen years, with or without whipping."

The clause is so framed as to include every case where any chattel, &c., is delivered to, or received or taken possession of by, the clerk or servant, for or in the name or on account of the master. If, therefore, a man pay a servant money, or hand over to him goods for his master, the case will be within the statute, though it was neither the servant's duty to receive the money or goods, nor had he authority to do so.

By other clauses in the same statute, it is provided

that there may be included in the same indictment either three distinct acts of larceny, or three distinct acts of embezzlement, so that they were committed within the space of six months.

If a servant be indicted for larceny, and the offence turns out to be embezzlement, or vice versa, he will not on that account be entitled to an acquittal, but may be convicted of the crime which the facts disclose.

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