History of Labour Law in The United Kingdom

History Of Labour Law In The United Kingdom

The history of employment law in the United Kingdom concerns the development of UK employment law (or labour law), from its roots in Roman and medieval times in the British Isles up to the present. Before the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mechanised manufacture, regulation of workplace relations was based on status, rather than contract or mediation through a system of trade unions. Serfdom was the prevailing status of the mass of people, except where artisans in towns could gain a measure of self-regulation through guilds. In 1740 save for the fly-shuttle the loom was as it had been since weaving had begun. The law of the land was, under the Act of Apprentices 1563, that wages in each district should be assessed by Justices of the Peace. From the middle of the 19th century, through Acts such as the Master and Servant Act 1867 and the Employers and Workmen Act 1875, there became growing recognition that greater protection was needed to promote the health and safety of workers, as well as preventing unfair practices in wage contracts.

Read more about History Of Labour Law In The United Kingdom:  Roman Law, Anglo-Saxon England, Medieval England, Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, Late Nineteenth Century, Liberal Reforms From 1906, Inter War Period, Post War Consensus, Conservative Government, New Labour

Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, labour, law, united and/or kingdom:

    “I assure you that in our next class we will concern ourselves solely with the history of Egypt, and not with the more lurid and non-curricular subject of living mummies.”
    —Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher)

    “In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
    —Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)

    “Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
    Of labour you shall find the sum.
    Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
    Yea, beds for all who come.”
    —Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)

    “I sat on cushioned otter-skin:
    My word was law from Ith to Emain,
    And shook at Invar Amargin
    The hearts of the world-troubling seamen,
    And drove tumult and war away....”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “Hollywood ... was the place where the United States perpetrated itself as a universal dream and put the dream into mass production.”
    —Angela Carter (1940–1992)

    “O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
    The brightest heaven of invention!
    A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
    And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)