APPRENTICE

apprentice. 1.Hist. A person bound by an indenture to work for an employer for a specified

period to learn a craft, trade, or profession.

“Apprentices, in the strict legal sense, are servants, usually but not necessarily infants, who

agree to serve their masters with a view to learning some trade or business, and whose masters on

their  part  agree  to  instruct  them.  The  contract  is  usually  for  a  term  of  years  and  is  normally

embodied  in  a  deed,  in  which  case  the  apprentice  is  said  to  be  bound  by  an  indenture  of

apprenticeship.  It is customary  for the father  of the apprentice (or some  person standing in loco

parentis),  as  well  as  the  apprentice  himself  to  execute  the  deed  or  other  instrument,  and  thus

become  liable  for  the  due  observance  by  the  apprentice  of  his  obligations  thereunder.  When  an

apprentice  deliberately  misconducts himself in such a way that, in the case of any other servant,

his behaviour would amount to a repudiation of the agreement, and thereupon the master decides

to accept the repudiation and dismisses him, the apprentice’s repudiation is not effective, and the

contract is not terminated, unless the Court find that such a course would be for the infant’s benefit.

Otherwise the infant could  do indirectly what  he  could  not do  directly —  namely, bring about a

rescission of the contract.” 2 Stephen’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 133–34 (L. Crispin

Warmington ed., 21st ed. 1950).

2.  A  learner  in  any  field  of  employment  or  business,  esp.  one  who  learns  by  hands-on

experience or technical on-the-job training. [Blacks Law 8th]