Boynton v. Clay
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On exceptions. Assumpsit by the plaintiff, who is under the age of twenty-one years, by his mother and next friend, to recover for four months’ and seventeen days’ labor.
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On exceptions. Assumpsit by the plaintiff, who is under the age of twenty-one years, by his mother and next friend, to recover for four months’ and seventeen days’ labor. There was evidence on the part of the plaintiff tending to show that he contracted with the defendant to labor for him six months for fifty dollars and board; that he labored from May 7th to Sept. 24, 1866, and then left because the defendant required him to work on the Sabbath ; that the plaintiff’s father was deceased at the time he made the contract, and his mother resided in Massachusetts; that he was sixteen years of…
1Opinion of the CourtAppbeton, C. J.
A minor, by the consent of his father, may go out to service and receive his earnings. He may maintain an action, for the value of his labor, against the person employing him, either upon the express contract when there is one, or upon an implied contract. Corey v. Corey, 19 Pick. 29; Bubier v. Bubier, 39 Maine, *238406; Burlingame v. Burlingame, 7 Cow. 92. “We go so far as to say,” observes Parker, C. J., in Whitney v. Earle, 3 Pick. 201, “ that when a minor son makes a contract for his services, on his own account, and the father knows it and makes no objection, there is an implied assent…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Jackson ex dem. Cook v. ShepardNew York Supreme Court · 1827
3Cited by2 opinions
- Whitehead v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.Missouri Court of Appeals · 1886
- Lottinville v. DwyerSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1942