prohibited objects liable to imprisonment.
Combinations of employers were also forbidden. A period of vigorous repression of combinations followed the passing of this Act under which, in the words of Lord Jeffrey at a dinner held in 1825 to celebrate their repeal, "a single master was at liberty at any time to turn off the whole of his workmen at once 100 or 1,000 in number if they would not accept of the wages he chose to offer. But it was made an offence for the whole of the workmen to leave that master at once if he refused to give the wages they chose to require".
During the economic depression which followed the Napoleonic Wars a movement arose to remedy the extremely miserable condition of the masses of the workers, and following the report of a Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry which sat in 1824 an Act the Combination Laws Repeal Act of 1824 was passed to legalise trade societies. It provided that workmen or others entering into combination for the purpose of regulating wages and conditions of labour should not be subject to proceedings for conspiracy or otherwise.
The immunity thus granted to the workers led to the wide-spread formation of unions and their demands for improved working conditions were followed by severe outbreaks of disputes and strikes.
Parliament reacted swiftly, and following the report of a Committee of Enquiry, the Combination Laws Repeal Act Amendment Act of 1825 was passed. This Act, although specifically exempting from prosecution associations for the purpose of regulating wages or hours of labour, removed the exemption of combined workmen from prosecution for criminal conspiracy under common law, and provided that violence, threats or intimidation and certain acts of a like nature should be punishable by imprisonment.
During the period 1825 to 1871, trade union activities led to frequent strikes and sporadic violence, and an outrage in Sheffield in 1867 was followed by the immediate appointment of a Royal Commission to investigate
and trade unionism generally. The Commission submitted its report in 1869, two years later the Trade Union Act of 1871 was passed. This Act is the principal. Act on which the present day status of trade unions is based.
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Broadly speaking the Trade Union Act of 1871, defined trade unions; removed the illegality hitherto attaching to them at common law consequent on their purposes being in restraint of trade; empowered members to obtain. certain of the advantages of corporation subject to none of the purposes of the unions being illegal, and excluded domestic and inter-union affairs from the jurisdiction of the Courts in so far as the direct enforcement of agreements was concerned.
The effect of the Act of 1871 was however qualified by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of the same year which rendered persons who, with a view to coercing another for trade purposes, should use "violence", "threaten" or "obstruct" liable to imprisonment. This Act caused much dissatisfaction among trade unions which felt that they had gained but little from the freedom of combination conferred by the Trade Union Act, if many of the acts it involved were made criminal.
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the
In consequence of a judicial decision and of the agitation which followed it in 1872, regarding the legal position of a trade union arising from a strike, a Royal Commission was set up in 1874, and a further Act Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875 - repealed the Criminal Law Amendment Act; expressly authorised peaceful picketing and provided that an agreement or combination to do any act in connection with a trade dispute should not be indictable as a conspiracy unless the same act committed by an individual would be punishable as a crime.
During the period 1875 1925, a number of Acts affecting trade unions were passed, the most important being:-
(a) The Trade Union Act (Amendment) Act, 1876.
which amended the 1871 Act as regards certain administrative matters and re-defined trades unions;
2.