Baker v. Lauterbach

Bryan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. John Lauterbach entered the service of Baker Brothers '& Co. on the first day of March, 1880, and remained in their employment until August, 1883, when he was killed by an accident. He was twenty years of age on the twenty-ninth of March, 1880. His father died some years previously to his entering this service.

But it appears that his mother signed a written contract with Baker Brothers & Co., by which she undertook to bind him to them as an apprentice for five years to learn the art and trade of glassblowing. The contract stipulated that if the boy was considered competent to learn and be instructed, be was to receive for his services one-half of the rate of wages paid journeymen for similar work for the first four years, and two-thirds of such wages for the fifth year, and it was further stipulated that two hundred dollars should be held by the employers out of his wages, as security, to be paid at the expiration of the term of the apprenticeship; or forfeited if he should leave their employment for any cause whatsoever, before the expiration of the term of five years. All the wages were paid with the exception of two hundred dollars, and the present suit was brought by the administratrix of the deceased apprentice against Baker Brothers & Co. to recover this amount. The verdict was for one hundred and sixty dollars.

The contract was not signed by the employers, but only by the mother of the boy. In the view which we have ⁶⁹ taken of the case, this circumstance is immaterial. A father may bind out bis son as an apprentice until he reaches the age of twenty-one years, provided he pursues the mode authorized by the twentieth section of Article six of the Code; but a contract of apprenticeship executed by the mother is simply void. The boy would not be obliged to serve according to the terms of such an instrument; nor would the employer, by force of it, acquire any control over him.

He did, however, serve for three years and five months with a full knowledge of the terms of this contract. He knew therefore the rate of compensation which his employers expected to pay for his work; it would not then be just that he should receive more. The law would imply a contract on the part of his employers to pay him what his services were reasonably worth. It would not, however, imply a contract on the part of the boy to servo for five years, nor to pay a forfeiture in case he should leave the service before the expiration of that time.

A contract of this kind is required, by the fourth section of the Statute of Frauds, to be in writing. The terms of the Statute are, that no action shall be brought “upon any agreement that is not to be performed within the space of one year from the making thereof, unless the agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof shall be in writing and signed by the party to he charged therewith or by some person thereunto by him lawfully authorized.” If, therefore, the boy had in express terms made a verbal contract to serve for five years it could not have been enforced against him by the other party. And if after serving a portion of the time he should refuse to