''Allen v Flood''

898 __NOTOC__ Year 898 ( DCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 1 – King Odo I (or Eudes) dies at La Fère (Northern France) af ...

AC 1 is a leading case in

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requ ...

and

UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equit ...

on intentionally inflicted economic loss.

Facts

A trade union official told an employer his members would not work alongside the claimants. The employer was pressured to get rid of the claimants. For the loss of work, the claimants sued the trade union official. An important fact is that all the workers in the case were only hired day by day. Therefore, the trade union official had never threatened a breach of contract because the contracts began afresh with a new day's work.

Judgment

High Court

Kennedy J Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...

presided over the trial where the jury found that the plaintiffs had suffered damage to the extent of £20 each, and assessed the damage accordingly.

Court of Appeal

Lord Esher MR, Lopes LJ and Rigby LJ held that the action was maintainable against the district delegate.

House of Lords

The House of Lords held by a majority (Lord Watson, Lord Herschell, Lord Macnaghten, Lord Shand, Lord Davey, and Lord James) that even though there was a malicious motive, this could not render the conduct unlawful, because the effect actually complained of (not rehiring) was in itself entirely lawful. As one of those invited to give an opinion, Cave J said the following. Giving the last judgment, Lord Davey said the following. Lord Halsbury LC, Lord Ashbourne and Lord Morris dissented.

Significance

''Allen v Flood'' has come under criticism in some quarters. In another leading

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

case in the context of union strike action, ''

Rookes v Barnard ''Rookes v Barnard'' 964 AC 1129 is a UK labour law and English tort law case and the leading case in English law on punitive damages and was a turning point in judicial activism against trade unions. The case was almost immediately reversed b ...

'',

Lord Devlin Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin, PC, FBA (25 November 1905 – 9 August 1992) was a British judge and legal philosopher. The second-youngest English High Court judge in the 20th century, he served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary fro ...

expressed disapproval. However ''Allen v. Flood'' was approved by the House of Lords in the recent case of ''

OBG v Allan was a combined appeal with ''Douglas v Hello! Ltd'' and '' Mainstream Properties Ltd v Young'' and stands as the leading case on economic torts in English law. Facts Lord Hoffmann in his judgment summarised the facts. Judgment Elaborati ...

.'' ''Allen v Flood'' also held that the earlier economic tort case of ''

Keeble v Hickeringill ''Keeble v Hickeringill'' (1707) 103 ER 1127 is a famous English property law and tort law case about rights to wild animals. Facts Samuel Keeble (the plaintiff) owned property called Minott's Meadow, which contained a pond outfitted with nets ...

'' was just a

nuisance Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...

case, and not an economic torts case.

Notes

{{Law English tort case law United Kingdom labour case law House of Lords cases 1898 in case law 1898 in British law United Kingdom trade union case law