The statutes recognize the right of the master to sell the apprentice to another master under certain circumstances. “No cutler can sell his apprentice unless he (the master) lies on a bed of sickness (_lit de langueur_), or is going across seas, or is leaving the gild for good or does it because of poverty.” The master’s obligations to the apprentice consisted in lodging, feeding and clothing him and in teaching him the trade. That masters did not always scrupulously abide by these duties, various law-suits and _régles_ attest. Only the tablet-makers and the important wool-merchants, provide, in their statutes, for a defence of the apprentice’s rights. There we find that if the master fails in his duties, the gild masters, upon complaint of the apprentice, “must admonish the said master, and if he does not comply, they must seek out a new master for the apprentice.” In another place, we learn of a fine imposed on the master who provoked his apprentice to flight. A decree from the Châtelet: 3 Sept., 1399, gives a living vignette of these domestic relations a century after our period.[5] “We have enjoined and commanded the said master that he treat the said Larin, his apprentice, as the son of a _prud’homme_ should be treated, and that he abide by the matters contained in the said contract, without having him beaten by his wife, but that he should beat him himself if he misbehaved.” In the same year also a father succeeded in breaking his son’s contract because the goldsmith, the boy’s master, by hitting him with a bunch of keys, had “made a hole in his head.” The possible marriage of an apprentice during the term of his service is provided for thus: “If any apprentice marries during the time that he has promised to serve his master, and does not wish to eat dinner and supper with his master, he ought to have four _deniers_ every working day for his support.” It is not very clear from our texts, whether an examination at the end of his term was usual or infrequent. Only rarely is the demand for a _chef-d’oeuvre_ mentioned. The saddle-bow makers claim that after an apprentice has made his _chef-d’oeuvre_ he should become more important in the workshop “so that his master may not send him out into the city to fetch his bread and his wine just like a boy.” The goldsmith’s statutes provide that if he becomes skilful enough to pay his expenses and to earn 100 _sous_ a year, he may be freed from his contract and allowed to earn a salary. At the end of the period, however, _any_ apprentice must declare before the Jurés on his oath that he had fulfilled his term according to contract.