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purpose of which, going far beyond the protection of their own interests with reference to wages or conditions of labour, was to control the masters in the conduct of their business, and to ruin such of them as refused to submit to their dictation; others sprang into existence in the course of a few months. In one of these associations, by one of its articles, delegates, who were to be regularly appointed, were to "point out the masters whom they disliked," and were to warn such masters of the danger in which they were placed," and "to try everything which prudence might dictate to put such masters out of the trade." In another of these combinations, the Seamen's Union, the effect of one of the rules of the association, viz., that men thus employed should not do anything which they had never before been called on to do as seamen, led, on the occasion of a vessel getting on a sand-bank, when it became necessary to shift the ballast, to a refusal on the part of the men to do this work, as not having been done by them before; the consequence of which was that other assistance had to be sought, and that the owners had to pay a considerable sum for salvage.

In the ensuing year, a motion having been made in the House of Commons, by Mr. Huskisson, for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the effects of the act of the 5 Geo. 4, c. 95, in respect of the conduct of workmen and others in different parts of the United Kingdom, and to report their opinion how far it might be necessary to repeal or amend the act, a committee was appointed accordingly. After a full investigation, the committee reported, recommending a repeal of the act of the preceding session, thereby to restore the operation of the common law in the instances in which it was suspended by the second and third clauses of the act; at the same time recommending that exception should be made to its operation in favour of meetings and consultations, amongst either masters or workmen, the object of which was peaceably to consult upon the rate of wages to be either given

D.

D

or received, and to agree to co-operate with each other in endeavouring to raise or lower it, or to settle the hours of labour; "an exception," it was said, which," while it gave to those in the different classes of masters and workmen ample means of maintaining their respective interests, would not afford any support to the assumption of power or dictation in either party to the prejudice of the other, least of all to that assumption of control on the part of the workmen in the conduct of any business or manufacture, which was utterly incompatible with the necessary authority of the master, at whose risk and by whose capital it was to be carried on."

In recommending that liberty of associating and cooperating together, so far as wages or hours of labour were concerned, should be preserved, alike to masters and workmen, the committee "deemed it essential to the regard which was due to the free exercise of individual judgment," to propose "that the resolutions of any such association should be allowed to bind only parties actually present, or personally consenting; " adding that "all combination beyond this ought to be at the risk of the parties, and open, as theretofore, to the animadversion of the common law, and should be dealt with according to the circumstances of each case." The committee further recommended that every precaution should be taken to insure a safe and free option to those who, from whatever motive, might have no inclination to take a part in such associations. "The most effective security," they observe, "should be taken that legislative enactments can afford, that in becoming parties to any association, or subject to their authority, individuals should be left to act under the impulse of their own free will alone; and that those who wish to abstain from them, should be enabled to do so, and continue their service or engage their industry on whatever terms or to whatever master they may choose, in perfect security against molestation, insult, or personal danger of what kind soever." For the punishment of

offences of the nature alluded to, the committee recommended that a summary jurisdiction should be established, with a provision that would afford greater facility to its operation, by permitting conviction to take place on the oath of one credible witness, and by giving a discretion in respect to the punishment to be inflicted in case of conviction, to the extent of six months imprisonment, with or without hard labour, according to the circumstance of the case.

A bill, passed in conformity with these resolutions, was forthwith introduced into parliament and became law as the 6 Geo. 4, c. 129. It repealed the former act, but at the same time repealed the statutes which it had been the primary purpose of that act to abrogate, leaving the combinations which had been authorized by the 2nd and 3rd sections of the prior act to be dealt with at the common law.

The act retained, and in a still more comprehensive and stringent form, the provisions of the former statute relative to the coercion or intimidation of others. The 3rd section enacted that, if any person by violence to person or property, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting, or in any way obstructing another,

1. Shall force or endeavour to force any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person, hired or employed in any manufacture, trade, or business, to depart from his hiring, employment, or work, or to return his work before it is finished, or prevent or endeavour to prevent any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person not being hired or employed, from hiring himself to or from accepting work or employment from any

person;

2. Or shall use such means for the purpose of forcing or inducing such person to belong to any club or association, or to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty on account of his not belonging to any particular club or association, or of his not having con

tributed or having refused to contribute to any common fund or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not having complied, or of his refusing to comply with any rules, orders, resolutions, or regulations made to obtain an advance or to reduce the rate of wages, or to lessen the hours of working, or to decrease or alter the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the management thereof;

3. Or to force or endeavour to force any manufacturer or person carrying on any trade or business, to make any alteration in his mode of regulating, managing, conducting, or carrying on such manufacture, trade, or business, or to limit the number of his apprentices, or the number or description of his journeymen, workmen, or servants,—

Such person shall be liable, with any person aiding, abetting, or assisting therein, to three months imprisonment, with or without hard labour (e).

Thus the law remained till the year 1867. In the meantime the statutes prohibiting combination having been removed, trade unions had sprung up in great numbers, and it soon became manifest that, while eminently effective for the protection of the interests of the workman, they were also capable, in the hands of violent and unscrupulous men, of being converted into instruments of intolerable tyranny and oppression. The organized strikes, which at first were viewed with much disapprobation, might be only the form in which a legitimate contest with the employer could be carried on. But the outrages at Sheffield and Manchester could but excite general indignation, and the proceedings of the Tailors'

(e) Sir William Erle, late Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, has expressed his opinion that the act 6 Geo. 4, c. 129, was "declaratory of the common law as to the offence and operative only to make a summary remedy." Memorandum on

the Law relating to Trade Unions appended to the Eleventh and Final Report of the Royal Commission on the Organization and Rules of Trade Unions and other Associations.

Association in the metropolis, and the undisguised attempts then made by incessant molestation to compel persons not belonging to the association to act under its dictation, was felt to amount to an unendurable tyranny which must be put down by the law.

On the other hand, legal decisions had taken place which showed that while combinations to affect the rate of wages, or the hours of work, had ceased to be criminal, these associations, being, according to the ancient legal doctrine, in restraint of trade, and therefore against public policy, had no legal status, and could not invoke the aid of the law for the protection of property and other civil rights.

It being doubted whether under all the circumstances the existing state of the law was satisfactory, in the year 1867 a commission was issued to inquire into and report on the organization and rules of trades unions and other associations, whether of workmen or employers, and to inquire into and report on the effect produced by such trades unions and associations on the workmen and employers respectively, and on the relations between workmen and employers, and on the trade and industry of the country; with power to investigate any recent acts of intimidation, outrage, or wrong alleged to have been promoted, encouraged, or connived at by such trades unions or other associations, and also to suggest any improvements to be made in the law with respect to the matters aforesaid, or with respect to the relations between workmen and their employers, for the mutual benefit of both parties.

From the inquiry instituted by that commission, the evidence taken by it, the very able but conflicting reports of the commissioners, and the public discussion of the subject, there ensued two contemporaneous acts of the legislature, the 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31, and the 34 & 35 Vict. c. 32.

In the first of these statutes, entitled "An Act to