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The Statute of Laborers 1351

1) This document establishes the Statute of Laborers in 1351, which mandated that all able-bodied people under 60 must work or face imprisonment. 2) It sets wage limits based on rates from 20 years prior to prevent workers from demanding excessive pay. Anyone paying above these limits would face penalties. 3) It also regulates prices for goods to prevent price gouging and establishes oversight to enforce these labor and price controls.

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Keith Jundeacon
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331 views2 pages

The Statute of Laborers 1351

1) This document establishes the Statute of Laborers in 1351, which mandated that all able-bodied people under 60 must work or face imprisonment. 2) It sets wage limits based on rates from 20 years prior to prevent workers from demanding excessive pay. Anyone paying above these limits would face penalties. 3) It also regulates prices for goods to prevent price gouging and establishes oversight to enforce these labor and price controls.

Uploaded by

Keith Jundeacon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Statute of Laborers; 1351

("Statutes of the Realm," vol. i. p. 307.)

Edward by the grace of God etc. to the reverend father in Christ William, by the same grace
archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, greeting. Because a great part of the people
and especially of the, workmen and servants has now died in that pestilence, some, seeing the
straights of the masters and the scarcity of servants, are not willing to serve unless they
receive excessive wages, and others, rather than through labour to gain their living, prefer to
beg in idleness: We, considering the grave inconveniences which might come from the lack
especially of ploughmen and such labourers, have held deliberation and treaty concerning this
with the prelates and nobles and other learned men sitting by us; by whose consentient
counsel we have seen fit to ordain: that every man and woman of our kingdom of England, of
whatever condition, whether bond or free, who is able bodied and below the age of sixty
years, not living from trade nor carrying on a fixed craft, nor having of his own the means of
living, or land of his own with regard to the cultivation of which he might occupy himself,
and not serving another, if he, considering his station, be sought after to serve in a suitable
service, he shall be bound to serve him who has seen fit so to seek after him; and he shall take
only the wages liveries, meed or salary which, in the places where he sought to serve, were
accustomed to be paid in the twentieth year of our reign of England, or the five or six
common years next preceding. Provided, that in thus retaining their service, the lords are
preferred before others of their bondsmen or their land tenants: so, nevertheless that such
lords thus retain as many as shall be necessary and not more; and if any man or woman, being
thus sought after in service, will not do this, the fact being proven by two faithful men before
the sheriffs or the bailiffs of our lord the king, or the constables of the town where this
happens to be done,-straightway through them, or some one of them, he shall be taken and
sent to the next jail, and there he shall remain in strict custody until he shall find surety for
serving in the aforesaid form.

And if a reaper or mower, or other workman or servant, of whatever standing or condition he


be, who is retained in the service of any one, do depart from the said service before the end of
the term agreed, without permission or reasonable cause, he shall undergo the penalty of
imprisonment, and let no one, under the same penalty, presume to receive or retain such a one
in his service. Let no one, moreover, pay or permit to be paid to any one more wages, livery,
meed or salary than was customary as has been said; nor let any one in any other manner
exact or receive them, under penalty of paying to him who feels himself aggrieved from this,
double the sum that has thus been paid or promised, exacted or received and if such person be
not willing to prosecute, then it (the sum) is to be given to any one of the people who shall
prosecute in this matter; and such prosecution shall take place in the court of the lord of the
place where such case shall happen. And if the lords of the towns or manors presume of
themselves or through their servants in any way to act contrary to this our present ordinance,
then in the Counties, Wapentakes and Trithings suit shall be brought against them in the
aforesaid form for the triple penalty (of the sum) thus promised or paid by them or the
servants; and if perchance, prior to the present ordinance any one shall have covenanted with
any one thus to serve for more wages, he shall not be bound by reason of the said covenant to
pay more than at another time was wont to be paid to such person; nay, under the aforesaid
penalty he shall not presume to pay more.

Likewise saddlers, skinners, white-tawers, cordwainers, tailors, smiths, carpenters, masons,


tilers, shipwrights, carters and all other artisans and labourers shall not take for their labour
and handiwork more than what, in the places where they happen to labour, was customarily
paid to such persons in the said twentieth year and in the other common years preceding, as
has been said; and if any man take more, he shall be committed to the nearest jail in the
manner aforesaid.

Likewise let butchers, fishmongers, hostlers, brewers, bakers, pullers and all other vendors of
any victuals, be bound to sell such victuals for a reasonable price, having regard for the price
at which such victuals are sold in the adjoining places: so that such vendors may have
moderate gains, not excessive, according as the distance of the places from which such
victuals are carried may seem reasonably to require; and if any one sell such victuals in
another manner, and be convicted of it in the aforesaid way, he shall pay the double of that
which he received to the party injured, or in default of him, to another who shall be willing to
prosecute in this behalf; and the mayor and bailiffs of the cities and Burroughs, merchant
towns and others, and of the maritime ports and places shall have power to enquire
concerning each and every one who shall in any way err against this, and to levy the aforesaid
penalty for the benefit of those at whose suit such delinquents shall have been convicted; and
in case that the same mayor and bailiffs shall neglect to carry out the aforesaid, and shall be
convicted of this before justices to be assigned by us, then the same mayor and bailiffs shall
be compelled through the same justices, to pay to such wronged person or to another
prosecuting in his place, the treble of the thing thus sold, and nevertheless, on our part too,
they shall be grievously punished.

And because many sound beggars do refuse to labour so long as they can live from begging
alms, giving themselves up to idleness and sins, and, at times, to robbery and other crimes-let
no one, under the aforesaid pain of imprisonment presume, under colour of piety or alms to
give anything to such as can very well labour, or to cherish them in their sloth, so that thus
they may be compelled to labour for the necessaries of life.

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