Genealogy Forum UK

I've found a record for a family member. He was sentenced 14 days for "Leaving Service" in 1858, it doesn't say what service though!
Other people on the same page are sentenced for non payment of fines and even bastardy (in that case the poor unfortunate man was senenced twice!!).

My question is what sort of service could he be leaving illegally?

It looks as though it could just have been his job

http://history.powys.org.uk/school1/yst ... ones.shtml

"The 1823 Master and Servant Act provided for criminal sanctions of up to three months imprisonment for a variety of breaches of the employment contract. Although it is not exactly clear why, protests against these penal sanctions were relatively muted for the two decades following the passage of the Act.(2) However, as Steinfeld notes, the legal terrain shifted in the 1840s and 1850s. At that time, common law courts adopted much more expansive interpretations of the law not only to cover more workers but also to limit employers"™ obligation to fulfill employment contracts." http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1085

You would need to dig a bit deeper to find out how the law was for your man as it was a bit later in the century.

Added: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_and_Servant_Act looks like things did not improve much for a while!

Thanks Gardner!

and they want to bring that back