218
THE GREEN BAG
plied only to employment in or about rail ways, factories, mines, quarries, or engineer ing works, and in or about any building which exceeds thirty feet in height and is either being constructed or repaired by means of a scaffolding or being demolished, or on which machinery is used for the pur pose of construction, repair, or demolition. In 1900, the benefits of the Act were extended to workmen engaged in agriculture. The Workmen's Compensation Act fixes the liability of the employer as follows: (*') if the injury results in death and the work man leaves dependents, that is, persons who would be entitled to sue under Lord Camp bell's Act, wholly dependent upon his earn ings at the time of his death, a sum of three years' wages, calculated upon his earnings for the years next preceding his injury; («) if the dependents are only partly de pendent, such sum reasonable and propor tionate to the injury, not exceeding three years' wages, as may be agreed upon or settled by arbitration; (Hi) where the injury results in death and there are no dependents, the reasonable expenses of medical atten dance and burial, not exceeding ten pounds; (iv) where there is a total or partial incapa city a weekly payment during incapacity not exceeding fifty per cent of his weekly average wages and not exceeding one pound weekly. In fixing the amount, regard must be paid to the workman's power of earning wages after the injury, and to any payments already made to him in respect thereof by his em ployer. Naturally if the injury is attributed to the workman's own serious and wilful misconduct no compensation is allowed to him. Notice must be given promptly of the injury and proceedings must be taken within six months. If the injured workman recov ers his capacity his compensation ceases. The employer may contract himself out of the act if the Registrar of Friendly Societies, after taking steps to ascertain the views of the employer and the workman, certifies that any scheme of compensation or insur ance for the workmen, voluntarily arranged
between them and their employer, is not less favorable to the workmen than the provi sions of the act. Such, in general, are the provisions of the English Workmen's Compensation Act. It involves an entirely new principle in its attempts to adjust the relations between workmen and their employers, and to deter mine the responsibility of the latter for injury happening to them in the course of their employment. In the early part of the nine teenth century it was the theory of the law, stating it generally, that the workman him self should be responsible for his own safety, and that he could not obtain compensation therefor from his employer, except where the latter had been personally negligent. The new act not only reverses this theory but makes the employer an insurer of the safety of his employees. It establishes the novel proposition in political economy that the pecuniary result arising from loss of life or personal injury, incident to the carrying on of an industrial enterprise, should be regarded as part of the expense of produc tion, which the employer primarily must pay, but which ultimately must be paid by the consumer in the enhanced price of the article produced. This principle of insurance of the lives and safety of the workmen came from Germany, where it has been in operation since 1848. It was adopted here in England in 1897, in France, Italy, and Denmark in 1898, in Switzerland in 1899, in Spain in 1900, in Holland in 1901, and in Belgium in 1903. The questions naturally arise: How has the Act worked practically? and How is it regarded by those most affected by its opera tions? It was at first regarded as a socialistic measure, and opposed on that account. But it is now generally regarded with favor by all classes. Probably those most benefited at the outset were the lawyers, for few acts of recent times have been the source of as much litiga tion. This arose from the variety of con structions placed upon the unusual and novel terms employed in several of the sec
