ABSTRACT
There existed two routes from feudalism for wage labour. The first was through artisan production which assumed the form of piece-work, described in the last chapters, so common towards the end of the eighteenth century on house-building sites in London. The second was through statute labour which was converted into wage labour based on time- rather than piece-rates and was also well represented in the building sector at the end of the eighteenth century, especially in road-building and paving in London. Changes in these two forms of wage labour and the eventual domination of the time-rate were important economic grounds underlying the shift in political power, away from the vestry governed by JPs towards select public administrative bodies governed by Acts of Parliament.
