The ''Eleventh and Final Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to Inquire into the Organization and Rules of Trades Unions and Other Associations'' (1868-1869) Parliamentary Papers vol xxxi (or the ''Report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions'') was a landmark report to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Parliament, which led to the legalisation of trade unions. The Commissioners who wrote the Report were divided, and delivered a Majority Report, and a dissenting Minority Report. The Minority Report was preferred by the Liberal Government, and this led to the Trade Union Act 1871.

Background

* Combinations of Workmen Act 1825 * Friendly Societies Act 1855 *'' Hilton v Eckersley'' (1855) 6 El & Bl 47 *

Reform Act 1867 The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 (known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act) was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first ...

*'' Hornby v Close'' (1867) LR 2 QB 153 *'' Skinner v Kitch'' (1867) LR 2 QB 393 * K Marx, ''

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...

'' (1867) *

Trade Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

, first meeting in 1868

Content

Majority Report

The Majority Report recommended that trade union internal affairs should be regulated in a manner ‘resembling in some degree that of Corporations.’page xxiv But little else. It wanted a system of registration, which would give immunity from criminal law. But union rules would be subject to approval by the Registrar of Friendly Societies, which would reject rules that restricted entry to trade, had a closed shop objective, or permitted sympathetic action on behalf of other workgroups. Elcho and Herman Merivale dissented in part on the question of whether prosecutions for breach of contract should be allowed.

Minority Report

A combined dissent was written by the

Earl of Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. Hi ...

Thomas George Anson,

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 182222 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. ...

and

Frederic Harrison Frederic Harrison (18 October 1831 – 14 January 1923) was a British jurist and historian. Biography Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison (1799–1881), a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexa ...

. Their Minority Report emphasised the work of unions in providing benefits to their members. It recommended they be given sufficient legal status to have immunity from criminal and restraint of trade laws, and to enable protection of their funds. It wanted rule registration, but no control for the Registrar, except where incomplete or fraudulent, and no legal process over union internal affairs.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 United Kingdom labour law Reports of the United Kingdom government 1868 in the United Kingdom 1869 in the United Kingdom British trade unions history 1868 in labor relations 1869 in labor relations 1869 documents

Background

Content

Majority Report

Minority Report

See also

Notes