declared against some Connecticut employers who blacklisted a workman, that "any conspiracy to prevent, obstruct, or hinder any man from putting his labour on the market is highly criminal at common law." There could, therefore, be no valid objection to expressing this clearly in any Act which defines picketing to be illegal. At present we are not going the length of asking for a law to that effect, believing that the remedial measures we suggest are sufficient to check the evil, and to so react upon employers that they will find a black list useless and unnecessary.

Mr. James Booth, C.B., who signed the Majority Report above quoted, strenuously urged his fellowCommissioners to report the desirability of rendering picketing illegal, and embodied his opinion in his draft Report as follows:

"The mere fact that in order to render a strike effectual it is necessary to resort to the system of pickets affords conclusive evidence that the strike is not altogether a voluntary proceeding, and that it wants the character, therefore, which alone can render it a combination such as ought to be tolerated by law......

"The notion of undue coercion is, therefore, essentially involved in the system of picketing; and considering its liability to abuse, even if conducted in the least objectionable manner, and bearing in mind the paramount importance of protecting the workman in the free disposal of his

labour, and the employer in unrestricted access to the supply of labour wherever it is to be purchased, we have no hesitation in expressing our opinion that picketing ought to be sternly repressed by law."

Mr. Booth's definite suggestion to make picketing a criminal offence was as follows:

"It appears from the report of the proceedings, and of the law laid down by Mr. Baron Bramwell on the trial of the persons engaged in the tailors' strike, above referred to, that picketing, as according to the evidence before us it is ordinarily practised, is a criminal offence at law; and it may perhaps be sufficient that the proposed Bill should declare the law to be to the effect laid down by the learned judge on that occasion; but we think that no doubt should be allowed to remain that picketing is a criminal offence on the part both of the persons organizing or promoting the picket, and of the persons acting as picketers, or otherwise taking an active part in enforcing the picket, and that it ought to be summarily punishable by fine and imprisonment."

We must confess that the criticisms of the Minority Report on so direct but tactless a measure as this are sound. As the minority observed (and since Mr. Booth was not supported by the majority, we may take this as their, at least tacit, opinion also) :—

"It is plain that no real [by which they mean

'direct'] prohibition of the practice would be possible unless we were to take measures repugnant to common sense. The only result of legislative repression of picketing would be to render the practice secret, and to make the men on picket far more numerous, more vigilant, and more ready to resort to coercion. It cannot escape notice that it would be impossible to define the offence of picketing in any reasonable limits. If definite, the provision would be futile; if indefinite, it would be a constant source of oppression."

It is not possible to pass a crude law, saying in so many words, "picketing is unlawful.”

One of the ultimate effects of this Trade Union Commission was the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875. We quote below the two sections. with which we are now concerned.

Sections 3 and 7 of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875, 38 & 39 Vict., c. 86, are as follows::

Section 3. An agreement or combination by two or more persons to do or procure to be done any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute between employers and workmen shall not be indictable as a conspiracy, if such act committed by one person would not be punishable as a crime.

Nothing in this section shall exempt from punishment any persons guilty of conspiracy for which a punishment is awarded by any Act of Parliament.

Nothing in this section shall affect the law relating to riot, unlawful assembly, breach of the peace, or sedition, or any offence against the State or Sovereign.

A crime for the purposes of this section means an offence punishable on indictment, or an offence which is punishable on summary conviction, and for the commission of which the offender is liable, under the statute making the offence punishable, to be imprisoned either absolutely, or at the discretion of the Court as an alternative for some other punishment.

Where a person is convicted of any such agreement or combination as aforesaid to do or procure to be done an act which is punishable only on summary conviction, and is sentenced to imprisonment, the imprisonment shall not exceed three months, or such longer time, if any, as may have been prescribed by the statute for the punishment of the said act when committed by one person.

Section 7. Every person who, with a view to compel any other person to abstain from doing or to do any act which such other person has a legal right to do or abstain from doing, wrongfully and without legal authority,

1. Uses violence to or intimidates such other person, or his wife and children, or injures his property; or,

2. Persistently follows such other person about from place to place; or,

3. Hides any tools, clothes, or any other property owned or used by such other person, or

deprives him of, or hinders him in, the use
thereof; or,

4. Watches or besets the house or other place
where such other person resides, or works,
or carries on business, or happens to be, or
the approach to such house or place; or,
5. Follows such other person with two or more
persons in a disorderly manner in or through

any street or road,

shall, on conviction thereof by a court of summary jurisdiction, or on indictment, as hereinafter mentioned, be liable either to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour.

Attending at or near the house or place where a person resides, or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place, in order merely to obtain or communicate information, shall not be deemed a watching or besetting within the meaning of this section.

(b) The Labour Commission.

The official summary of suggestions, made in evidence before the Labour Commission of 1891-4, to amend the two sections of the Conspiracy Act quoted above, is as follows: