Jones v. People

Citations

• 110 Ill. 590
• 1884 Ill. LEXIS 1391

Syllabus

<p>1. Mining statute—construction of section 2, as limiting the right to contract for wages on a basis other than the weight of the coal—constitutionality. Section 2 of “An act to provide for the weighing of coal at the mines,” of the laws of 18S3, is not open to the constitutional objection of depriving coal operators of their right to make special contracts. That section does not require that the wages under all contracts shall be computed upon the basis of the weight of the coal mined. It only applies to cases where, by contract, the wages are to be paid according to the weight of coal mined.</p> <p>2. That act leaves it free for the owner or operator of a coal mine to make contracts with his employes to mine coal for whatever may be agreed upon between them,—by the day, week, month, year, or by the box, or in any other manner that may be agreed upon between them. Where the contract is for the paying of wages in some other way than according to the weight of the coal dug, the purpose of the act would seem to fail, and its provisions do not apply.</p> <p>3. On the trial of an operator of a coal mine for not providing a “track scale,” etc., so that the weight of coal of each miner might be ascertained, the court refused to allow the defendant to prove that for nine years prior thereto the corporation owning and operating the mine had a contract with all the men employed to mine coal during that period, to receive as the wages for their labor from the coal company forty cents for each box of coal mined and taken from the mine; that the miners had always been, and were then, satisfied to work under such contract, and that they did not want the coal weighed, as a basis upon which to compute their wages, etc.: Held, that it was error to exclude the proposed evidence, as its admission would have shown a case to which the statute did not apply.</p>