中世纪晚期英格兰劳动力市场中的契约保护原则

The Contract-Protecting Principle in the Late Medieval English Labour Market

在中世纪英格兰,契约性劳动关系获得迅速发展,劳动力市场中的契约保护原则已具雏形。黑死病暴发之后,随着劳工法令的颁布和执行,各级法庭的档案中保留了不少涉及劳工问题的案例。它们显示,雇、佣双方违反劳动契约的情况都十分普遍,法庭是双方主张自己权利的“战场”。在这个过程中,契约保护原则得到进一步发展,并表现出以下三个特征:法定性、平等性和普适性。在实际操作层面,劳工法令成为私人间解决劳动契约争议频繁援引的依据。法庭对契约的维护和救济,既保证了劳动契约的缔结与履行,也保证了劳动力市场的顺利运行。

In medieval England,the contractual labour relations developed rapidly and the contract-protecting principle in the labour market achieved its embryonic form.Numerous litigations on labourers survived in various levels of court rolls after the Black Death as the Statutes of Labourers were issued and implemented.These litigations indicate that breaches of contracts were common for both servants and masters,with both sides claiming their rights in the court.In this process,the principle of contract-protecting got further development and obtained three characters of legality,equity and universality.At the level of the practical operation,the statutes have become the basis which was referred to solve the private labour disputes.The protection and remedies for the contracts through the courts ensured labour contracts to be concluded and performed,and trouble-free operation of the medieval labour market as well.