ABSTRACT
Any effective comparison of wages over differences in time and space is recognized as one of the most difficult problems of economics. Wages were commonly reckoned by the hour or by some multiple of it, a quarter-day equalling two and a half hours. This method provoked considerable dispute, and made total remuneration very variable; because of loss of time through weather conditions. Wages were in some industries in practice diminished by "offtakes" or "drawbacks" exacted in recompense for some equipment or contribution in kind. A peculiarity of Scots law which attained some importance as a factor depreciating real wages may conveniently. This was the practice of "arrestment of wages," i.e. a "process by which a creditor detains the goods or effects of his debtor in the hands of third parties till the debt due to him shall be paid."
