The working man was not completely at the mercy of unscrupulous employers who might withhold wages and sack them. They could use the law to get revenge.
Walter Scott Rules in a Case of Wrongful Dismissal in 1812 | Stephen Basdeo
Law, Crime, and Friendship: Sir Walter Scott and Thomas ‘Tam’ Purdie
Scott served as Sheriff of Selkirk, and in 1804, a man appeared before him in the dock charged with stealing from his land. But the law-giver and the offender instead became best friends.