EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY, OR

is lati on which has for its purpose the protection of employees against lo of earning power through injuries receiv ed in the industries, with special application to the responsibility of employers in reducing danger from injury to lowest minimum. in the early days of our present industrial system the theory was that employer and employee were bound only by a free contract, and if that did not specify compensation in case of injury, the responsibility was the employee’s. Within recent years it is more and more being a umed that certain responsibilities are inherent in the employer’s position, which must be enforced by the state, in the form of employers’ liability, compulsory insurance, etc, Legislation with this tendency was first pa ed in the older industrial countries, notably in Germany, where it was initiated by Bismarck as a bulwark against the rise of Socialist sentiment. In this country such legislation is left to the separate states. The first law holding employers responsible in this regard was pa ed in New Jersey, in 1911. In 1921 all the states in the Union had followed this example except North Carolina, South Caroline, Florida, Arkansas and Mi i ippi. These state laws, naturally, differ somewhat widely in detail, especially regarding maximum and minimum payments to be made, occupations covered, periods during which medical aid must be rendered, while in some_ states occupational diseases are included and in others not. The employer usually covers his responsibility through an insurance company. The increase in this type of insurance on account of this cla of legislation is shown by the following figures: in 1913 insurance companies in this country paid out $14,268,879 to injured emplopaes, insured through their employers; 1920 such payments amounted to $141,552,665, an eight-fold increase. town, Tuscany, Italy. Pop. 20,000.