PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THAT the Author was not far wrong in his impression that a Work on the Law of Master and Servant was wanted, both by the Profession and the Public, is sufficiently proved by the demand for a Second Edition of the result of his humble endeavours to supply that want. That demand would have been yielded to at an earlier period but for the hope entertained by the Author, that the Statute Law Commissioners would have been enabled to have procured the passing into a Law of the Bill prepared for them by Mr. Warrington Rogers for consolidating the Statute Law relating to Masters and Servants, and Masters and Workmen (a). All chance of the realization of the Author's hopes in this respect appearing, however, for the present at least, to have passed away, he feels that he should not be justified in any longer delaying to offer to the Profession and the Public another Edition of his little Work, as numerous decisions have taken place, and various Statutes have been passed affecting matters therein treated of, since the first Edition was published. Besides a vast number of English, Scotch, and Irish decisions, a great many American cases have been added to this Edition; and no pains have been spared to render the Work worthy of that kind patronage which has already been bestowed upon it. (a) See further on this subject, post, p. 1. The only material alteration in the arrangement of the Work from that pursued in the former Edition, is in the transferring from Chapter V. to Chapter IV. of the cases upon the subject of a Master's liability to his Servant for injuries sustained through the negligence of a fellowservant. As those cases appear more properly to range themselves under the head of a Master's duty to indemnify his Servant from the consequences of obeying his commands, than as an exception to a Master's general liability for the acts of his Servant, they have accordingly been placed in Chapter IV. In a future Edition, the statement of those cases may probably be curtailed without disadvantage; but the principle established by them appears, at present, to be scarcely so completely developed in all its bearings as to justify a shorter statement of them in this Edition. This remark especially applies to the question, Who are fellowworkmen within the meaning of the rule? In answering which, great assistance will be derived from a careful consideration of the cases in which the rule itself has been laid down and applied. 1, HARE COURT, TEMPLE, March, 1860. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THERE are so few persons not interested in the law applicable to the relationship of Master and Servant, either in one capacity or the other, that the publication of a Treatise upon that subject may seem to most people to require but little apology. With professional men, however, the case is somewhat different. They have been so long accustomed, when any question of law arising out of the relationship of Master and Servant has been brought before them, to refer, if necessary, to works of general application, such as treatises on contracts, agency, or criminal law, or to digests, indices, and abridgments; that they may perhaps hardly have felt the want of a separate Work upon the law of Master and Servant. But it is conceived that even professional men may be more truly said to have become used to the want of such a Work, than not to have felt it. It is, at least, to the existence of a strong impression upon the mind of the Author that such was the case, and that a Book exclusively devoted to the subject he has attempted to elucidate was wanted, combined with a desire on his part to supply what he considered a deficiency in the list of legal publications, that the present Work owes its origin. In it he has attempted to concentrate all (a) that information upon the subject treated of (a) A Chapter on the Law of Settlement by Hiring and Service was partially prepared, but the addition of it would necessarily add much both to the size and price of this Volume. Upon further reflection, therefore, the Author has determined to omit it, and this, the rather, as the subject daily decreases in importance, and questions upon it now seldom arise. See post, p. 1, n. (b). which has hitherto been diffused through many books. How far he has succeeded in his object it is not for himself to determine. Whilst, however, on the one hand, he is well aware that many defects may, and not improbably will, be discovered in the following Work; on the other hand, he ventures to express his hopes that it will not be found altogether useless, even to the members of his own Profession; who, he trusts, will receive it with that indulgence which they are ever wont to accord to the efforts of their younger brethren. And if it shall be found by experience that the Author has so far succeeded in his undertaking as to have acted the part of a pioneer only upon a path hitherto, if not altogether untrodden, at least but imperfectly explored, he will be sufficiently compensated for his labours by the reflection that his leisure hours, which the present abnormal condition of his Profession has rendered more than usually numerous, have not been altogether misspent, whilst devoted to the preparation of this Work. MIDDLE TEMPLE, |