Report of Royal commission on trade unions and employers associations 1965 -1968

. We are the fifth Royal Commission to be appointed to inquire into questions affecting industrial relations in the last hundred years. 2. The first was appointed in February 1867 under the Chairmanship of Sir

William Erle, to inquire into and report on the organisation and rules of trade unions and employers' associations and their effects on industrial relations and on trade and industry. Its final report was made in March 1869. During the interval it issued ten reports of the evidence it had collected. The final report was not unanimous, being signed by seven Commissioners out of ten. The dissenting report was signed by the other three. Two of the seven Commissioners who signed the majority report dissented on certain particular matters. The reports of this Commission led to the enactment of the Trade Union Act 1871 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871, which made alterations in the law in favour of trade unions.

3. The second Royal Commission was appointed in 1874 under the Chair manship of Chief Justice Cockburn following the decision of Brett J. in 1872 in the case of R. v. Bunn (12 Cox 316) to the effect that, despite the Trade Union Act 1871 which abolished criminal liability for the act of combining in restraint of trade, it was still a criminal offence at common law to interfere, with improper intent, with an employer's right to conduct his business as he wished. The Commission was directed to inquire into the working of the Master and Servant Act 1867 and of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871 and into the law of conspiracy generally and as affecting the relations of masters and servants. The Commission reported in February 1875. There was a dissenting report signed by one Commissioner. Following these reports the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 and the Employers and Workmen Act 1875 were passed, and the Master and Servant Act 1867 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1871 were repealed.

4. In April 1891 another Royal Commission on Labour was appointed under the Chairmanship of the Duke of Devonshire to inquire inter alia into ques tions affecting the relations between employer and employed. It reported in May 1894. Of its twenty-three members nineteen signed a majority and four a minority report. It was followed by the passing of the Conciliation Act 1896.

5. The next Royal Commission was appointed in June 1903 under the Chairmanship of Lord Dunedin. It was directed to inquire into the subject of trade disputes and trade combinations and the law affecting them, and to report. It did so in January 1906. Of its five members three signed the majority report. Each of the two other members signed his own dissenting report. The Trade Disputes Act 1906 followed these reports. It exempted trade unions altogether from liability to be sued in tort and gave a measure of protection from civil suit for certain acts done in contemplation or fur therance of a trade dispute.