No burgess shall take on anyone as his apprentice unless that individual is of free birth, and was not born into servitude. When someone is about to take on an apprentice, he shall come before the mayor in the Gildhall with the apprentice and the indenture [of apprenticeship] and the apprentice shall be examined in the presence of other burgesses as to whether he is of free or servile status. If he is found to be free and not a villein, the date of him being received into apprenticeship shall be enrolled in the gildhall records. But if, after completing his apprenticeship, he is found to have had a servile birth, his term of service shall be invalidated as a basis for entrance to the franchise.