Scotland's Printing Heritage

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Memorial of the Edinburgh Compositors to the Court of Session. This was a request from the compositors of Edinburgh that they be allowed to convene a meeting: the Combination Acts were in force at the time, preventing workmen from acting together to improve their conditions. Permission was granted and a request for an increase in wages, which had remained static since 1792, was passed to the employers who refused to grant it. A legal case followed, with the decision initially given in favour of the employers, but on appeal to the Court of Session, this was reversed and an Interlocutor was issued which, as well as awarding the case to the compositors, gave the new scale of prices the force of law.