Scottish Court of Session Decisions

Subject_1 COMMUNITY.

Countess of Perth
v.
Davidson, &c

1752, July 8.
Case No. No. 5.

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Davidson, Donaldson, and others, Merchants in Perth being in use to export large quantities of salmon, hired Coopers by the year to come to Perth to serve them with casks for packing and exporting the salmon. The Coopers of Perth are part of the Incorporation of Wrights, and therefore complained to the Magistrates, who fined two of them, who suspended; and upon a new complaint against other two, they obtained advocation. Their only plea that we regarded was, that Davidson and Donaldson might have servants of their own to work their work that was not for sale,—that they may shave themselves, or their servants may shave them,—or they may make their own clothes or shoes,—or a merchant sending goods abroad may cause his own servants sew the wrappers;—and accordingly the Lords found that they can employ their own servants to make the salmon casks, and suspended the letters simpliciter as to two, and assoilzied as to other two.—Renit. —, Minto, Kilkerran, et me, who thought that this was a plain eluding of the Corporation privileges,—that the design of erecting Corporations was at first for the improvement of manufacturers or trades, and that the lieges might not be abused with bad work,—that salmon casks were always the object of the attention and care of the Legislature, and were sold by the merchants as much as the salmon, and therefore could not be thought to be exeemed from the Corporation privileges. For the interlocutor were President, Drummore, Strichen, Murkle, Woodhall, and Shewalton reporter. And the President thought that they might employ their servants to make casks to be sent abroad for sale even without salmon.