if I have the right source here, I think that it meant that each duty was described to the last detail ; each person was given his particular assignment ' maybe it could also read: they were each stati0ned in their particular quarters with the specific duties allotted to them;
interesting project btw

Hello,

par quartier = per quarter of a day

I hope this helps.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-11-14 01:06:19 GMT)
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You should be literal here.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-11-14 01:25:06 GMT)
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a quarter of a year, month, day???

I'm basing this on the analogy of 'médecin par quartier'

Médecin qui sert auprès d'un souverain par quart d'année.
http://www.medarus.org/glossaire/glossaire_medecins/gl_med_m...

Also in Littré.

I suppose that it was a position you couldn't refuse - but at least you could get on with your own life for 9 months of the year.

These are the links I found:

From 1749:
"Henry Fitzsimonds . I lost these goods mentioned in the indictment, the prisoner was my quarterly servant , she and my goods were missing together, I found her this day six weeks in the city, and took and brought her to an ale-house telling her I had been looking for her a great while; she immediately own'd taking the goods, and carry'd me to a pawn-broker's where she had pawn'd them; he examined her pretty strictly, I went pretending in order to buy them; he brought them down, and I demanded them as my goods, telling him I would make an exchange. he might have the woman and I would have the goods; but he refus'd delivering them unless I paid the money he lent on them, and she was prosecuted."
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=sessionsPaper...

"It appeared from the evi-

dence of Mr. Prentice that Cooper had been

hired by him, for the firm of Prentice and Nott,

as a butcher, to sell meat and kill, tinder a

written agreement for three months, at 28s. per

week ; this was in May, 1848, and subsequently

Cooper's wages had been raised 2s. per week,

and he continued on on the same terms, without

any fresh agreement; about four months.since

the firm of Prentice and Nott was dissolved,

and witness a few days subsequently asked

Cooperj who had remained with him, whether

he was willing to continue on as before ; Cooper

said he was willing, and he remained in wit-

ness's service till Tuesday last ; on Monday last

Cooper gave a week's notice to leave, but wit-

ness, who considered him as a quarterly servant

still, refused to receive the notice j on Tuesday

morning witness found that Cooper had cut up

the meat, and was about to go out with the

cart, as usual, but witness told him he did not

wish him to go out with the cart, but wanted

him to remain in the shop and assist the shop-

man to sell meat ; Cooper replied that he was

no shopman, and had not engaged as a shop-

man ; witness pointed out that he was only

required to assist the shopman, and witness then
sent out another man with the cart; Cooper

refused to serve in the shop, and shortly after

went away, but returned in the afternoon, and

asked if he should go and kill as usual ; witness

told him he might do as he liked, but as he had

left without leave he should take a different
course with him ; Cooper then left, and hat) not

returned to his work. Mr. Arthur Else deposed

that Cooper first gave the notice to him, and he

corroborated Mr. Prentice's statement of what

passed in the morning; Mr. Prentice asked

Cooper to settle his weekly account for meat

taken out ; Cooper replied that he would do so

when he had been paid by the customers: some

hours after Cooper left the shop he returned,

and offered to pay witness the whole of the

week's meat money if he would give him a re-

ceipt in full, settle his week's wages, a ni dis-

charge him ; witness declined, as Mr. Prentice

waa not at home ; witness was not present when

Cooper returned in the afternoon. Mr. Ward

said he could prove that Cooper was BÎmply a

weekly servant after the expiration of the first

agreement ; that he had given, as was admitted,

a regular "week's notice to leave ; and that he

had offered to Mr. Prentice to proceed with his

regular work, but that Mr. Prentice told him

he would have no more to do with him, and that

he should not go to kill. Some delay here took

place as to whether or not the charge should be

confined to the absconding, without including

disobedience, or entering on the money estimate,

and finally the bench ruled that as the summons

only charged the absconding, the charge must be

confined to that. Mr. John Nott was called, and

proved that after the termination of the Written

agreement Cooper applied for more wages, and

witn'ess and Mr. Prentice agreed that henceforth

he should be only a weekly servant, so that if

they could better themselves they might be

able to discharge him at any time ; Cooper was

alwavs employed to go out with the cart, and

to kill, and was not employed in the shop, hut

witness should have expected him to do any

work he set him ; the system was for Cooper to

go out with the cart in the morning, go home or

where he liked during the day, and come to kill

in the evening, and he understood he was hired

to do this.

http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/698147