Rare and important early 18th-century Irish legal pamphlet titled:
"An Act to Impower Justices of the Peace to Determine Disputes about Servants Wages; And to Oblige Masters to pay the Same; And to Punish Idle and Disorderly Servants."
Printed in Dublin by Andrew Crook, official printer to Queen Anne, and dated MDCCVII (1707).
This statute authorized local Justices of the Peace in Ireland to settle wage disputes between servants and their employers, enforced wage payments by masters, and instituted penalties for so-called “idle and disorderly” servants. Rooted in post-Restoration labor regulation, this act reveals much about the evolving legal mechanisms used to manage labor, maintain social order, and suppress mobility among the working poor in early modern Ireland.
Featuring a bold royal crest and clear typography in blackletter and Roman typefaces, the pamphlet measures approximately 6.5" x 10.25". Printed on laid paper with a wide margin and deckled edge. A fine example of Irish parliamentary printing in the early 1700s, scarce in commerce.
An important legal and social artifact from the Age of Queen Anne, reflecting the intertwined interests of labor control, local governance, and crown authority in 18th-century Ireland.
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