, the legislation of the
Continent of Europe where common-law principles of individual liberty
do not interfere, is, of course, far more complex and far more
effective than that of either England or the United States. The
principle of combination we leave for the next chapter. In European
legislation, where we are met with no constitutional difficulties,
we shall expect to find a more paternalistic control by the state,
although in France the decree of March 2, 1791, provided that every
person "shall be free to engage in such an enterprise or exercise,
such profession, art or trade, as he may desire." In Germany an
elaborate attempt has been recently made to re-introduce the old guild
system made over from its mediaeval form to suit modern conditions,
and in other countries where the government does not interfere, the
trade guilds, or unions, present insuperable obstacles to any one
engaging in their industry who is not a member of the guild or has not
gone through the required apprenticeship.[1]

[Footnote 1: U.S. Industrial Commission Reports, vol. XVI, p. 9.]

The French decree of 1791 freeing labor took effect also in French
Switzerland. A most interesting account of the experiment of the Swiss
Cantons on freedom of labor and the guild system will be found in
the U.S. Industrial Commission Report above referred to.[1] Germany
differs from England and France in that the old guild system was never
absolutely done away with; in 1807 serfdom was abolished in Prussia,
and a decree of December, 1808, apparently under the influence of
Napoleon, proclaimed the right of citizens freely to engage in such
occupations as they desired. Exclusive privileges and industrial
monopolies were abolished by subsequent decrees, and the general
movement for the freeing of industry was consummated in 1845 by the
labor code of that year, which, by the labor code of 1883, extends
over all Germany: "The practice of any trade is made free to all....
The distinctions between town and country in relation to the practice
of any handicraft trade is abolished.... Trade and merchant guilds
have no right to exclude others from the practice of any trade.... The
right to the independent exercise of a trade shall in no way depend
upon the sex...."[2]

[Footnote 1:_Ibid_., p. 10.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., pp. 11 and 12.]

It will be seen that the more enlightened European countries arrived,
under the influence of Napoleon probably, or the French Revo