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The Act Regarding Colliers and Salters 1606 [1] (1606 James VI) was legislation of the Parliament of Scotland, entered into the Parliamentary Register as "Anent coilyearis and saltaris" at Perth, Scotland on 9 July 1606. The Act refers only to underground coal miners and labourers in salt pans. There is no motivation given within the Act itself, only a list of provisions. However, the actual consequence was that the Act defined the legal status of a group of people as one of involuntary and lifelong bondage, and provided a means to assign others to that status in an arbitrary manner. It is for these reasons that the Act is significant.
The act was never altered, though above-ground coal labourers were later included in the definition of "collier" (and thereafter shared the fate of underground coal miners). The Act's impact would be moderated in 1775, and the Act itself was effectively nullified in 1799.
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[edit] The Act in Its Context
Taken at face value, the Act reads as an effort to redress grievances of coal mine and salt pan owners regarding their labourers, by deterring the desertion of those labourers. There was special mention for those who deserted before repaying their just debts. As to the mention of "vagabonds and sturdy beggars", an opportunity to make profitable use of undesirables was not missed. The Act is short and its terms specific:
- It is forbidden for anyone to hire or maintain any collier, coal bearer, or salter without the express permission of that servant's previous master.
- If any such servant is hired or maintained, the hirer or maintainer must deliver the servant back to the previous master within 24 hours, should the previous master demand it within a year and a day. The penalty for not doing so is £100, paid to the previous master.
- Any such servant who leaves his master while owing repayment of advance wages or fees is declared a thief, and his body will be punished.
- All masters and owners of coal pits and pans are given power and commission to apprehend all vagabonds and sturdy beggars, and to put them to work.
In the early seventeenth century, coal mining and salt panning were among the least desirable of labours. The wages were very low, and the labour was gruelingly hard and dangerous. No one would consider it unless he were already near starvation and had no alternatives. Owners and operators would commonly advance wages or fees, not least so that the men might survive to perform the labour for which they were hired. In cases where no money was owed, miners and salters would leave at the first good opportunity. Since almost any opportunity was a better one than mining coal or panning salt, any person or business in need of manpower had a ready supply of labour willing to work for low wages, to the disadvantage of coal mine and salt pan owners. Coal mines and salt pans were constantly in need of replacements, and the problem was compounded by those who left before repaying their debts.
[edit] The Impact of the Act
While saying nothing of the kind explicitly, the Act provided a legal foundation for perpetual and hereditary bondage. And while any reduction in the number of "vagabonds and sturdy beggars" may sound commendable, the designation of any man as a vagabond (which is not to say that he actually was a vagabond) meant that he was easy prey, and without effective recourse. The Act empowered and commissioned operators and owners themselves to apprehend any vagabond and force him into a mine or pan, at which point he was bound in perpetuity.
[edit] On the Law
The weight of the law could now be brought to bear for the benefit of the owners, and of the owners only. The owners could always have been confident of a court victory against any single labourer, for any number of reasons. However, any such victory would have been Pyrrhic, as the labourer never had anything to lose other than his own labour, which was not an asset that could be seized. The 1606 Act changed that.
[edit] On Coal Miners and Salters
For colliers and salters, the impact of the Act was nil. They were already at the lowest station in life, destitute and on the edge of starvation, with no prospects for a better life. Their children began working as soon as they were able, at which point they were as bound by the Act as were their fathers. They continued to perform the same labour when they became men, with no hope of betterment for themselves or for their descendants. As honourable men, they might have regarded it as reasonable, that sanctions were made against those who accepted money and deserted before repaying it. With or without the Act, these men would have led the same life. The Act merely guaranteed that life would always be the way that it was now. The colliers and salters had already made that assumption.
[edit] On Owners
The benefits to owners of coal mines and salt pans are tangible. The labourers were already living in permanent debt to the owners, as wages were too low to ever save enough money to repay loans, and advances were necessary for their mere survival. Previously, deserters had left to make similar arrangements with other masters, perhaps at marginally better wages or working conditions, but never for enough money to actually improve their condition. Now, the law would provide assurance that the men could never leave, whether they owed repayment or not, without the express permission of the owner. That permission was never given, of course. With respect to coal mines and salt pans, labour was now a salable commodity, bought and sold along with the other property of the mines and pans. The value of that salable commodity increased some years after the 1606 act, when a different act enlarged the group known as "colliers" and specified that work must be performed 6 days every week.
[edit] Nullification
The 1606 Act remained fully in effect until the Colliers and Salters (Scotland) Act 1775 (c. 28), but this only assured that no one could be bound in the future, and did nothing for those already bound. The Act was definitively nullified by the Colliers (Scotland) Act 1799 (c. 56), and while remedy was not always immediate, it was at least assured.
[edit] Acts Making Use of the 1606 Act
- 1641, 17 August - Act Regarding Coal Miners 1641[1] (Charles I 1641). The Act added above-ground coal labourers to the meaning of "colliers", which previously had referred only to underground coal miners. Both colliers and salters were now required to "work all the six days of the week, except the time of Christmas", under penalty of 20s per day not worked, plus receipt of their master's prejudice and punishment to their bodies.
- 1644, 21 June - Warrant for Payment to the Lord Sinclair 1644[1] (Charles I 1644). While in service, his losses included "his coalworks and salt-pans ruined and the colliers and salters dispersed through his absence". By the terms of the 1606 Act, Lord Sinclair could not get back the colliers and salters if they were not found within a year and a day of their leaving.
- 1647, 18 March - Legislation[1] with several acts, including an "Act discharging the observation of superstitious days and the entry and removal of miners and salters". Miners and salters must enter and remove themselves from their work on December 1, and not on Yule day. Observance of Yule day is forbidden to everyone (including colliers and salters), as a "profanation of the Sabbath". This does not make use of the 1606 Act, but shows that miners and salters were considered worthy of mention as a distinct group, apart from other Scots.
- 1661, 12 June - Act for Erecting of Manufactories 1661[1] (Charles II 1661). The Act is pertinent to the erection of manufactories, and sets conditions that are not to be violated "under the pains contained in the acts of parliament against coalhewers, salters and their resetters".
- 1661, 9 July - Act Anent Coal-hewers 1661[1] (Charles II 1661). A nearly exact copy of the 1641 Act, with no difference in its provisions.
- 1672, 12 June - Ratification in Favour of Sir Andrew Ramsay of Abbotshall[1] (Charles II 1672). A charter was granted which mentioned the particular benefits that would accrue to Sir Andrew Ramsay, including property such as coal mines and salt pans, with "salters, coal-heughars, coal-bearers" included.
- 1701, January 31 - Wrongful Imprisonment Act 1701[1] (William II 1701). An Act guaranteeing important rights to every Scot, it was intended to prevent wrongful imprisonment and to ensure the right to a speedy trial. The Act includes the words "And also, it is hereby provided and declared that this present act is not to be extended to colliers or salters, ...".
[edit] References
[[Category:1606 in law]] [[Category:Acts of the Parliament of Scotland]] {{Scotland-stub}} {{Scotland-law-stub}}
