Statute labour, in kind, was decreed by Parliament at a time, when no better means could be devised: when a circulating medium was deficient, and when a fair quantum of labour could not, in many parts of the country, be obtained for money.
Personal labour for a public service can never be made profitable, or fairly productive; at the same time, it is liable to the great objections of being made an instrument of partiality and oppression under the direction of a class of men with whom such a power should never be lodged, and over whom, in this instance, no adequate controul can be placed.
The causes, which operated to induce Parliament to resort to personal service, having ceased, it will be found expedient to commute statute labour for a moderate assessment in money. This has been effected with great advantage in Scotland, by most, if not all of the local and county Acts for turnpike roads.[1]
The sum of money annually raised in the kingdom for roads is very great, and would
- ↑ It is impossible not to see that statute labour is a remnant of personal
service; a gentleman might as well argue at the present day, that rents
paid in kind, are more easy and equitable than monied rents, as to defend
the custom of mending highways by compulsory labour.
Edgeworth's Essay on the Construction of
Roads and Carriages, p. 46.
