Associated Newspapers Group Ltd. v. Wade

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1979.tb01562.x
Date01 November 1979
AuthorR. C. Simpson
Published date01 November 1979
Nov.
19791
NOTES
OF
CASES
70
1
damages were not claimed in
Johnson
v.
Agnew,
but the view
argued here is supported by the statements that the general principle
for assessment was compensatory, and that absolute rules were not
binding.3a
Such damages would seem necessary to give contracting parties
full financial security, and thus
to
fulfil
the policy of making the
relatively informall contract of sale almost as reliable as the relatively
formal conveyance. An alternative approach, sweeping away the
difficulty which arose in
Johnson
v.
Agnew,
would be to deny the
remedy
of
specific performance to vendors. This might
be
worth
consideration in some suitable future GORDON WOODMAN
ASSOCIATED NKWSPAPKRS
GROUP
LTD.
V.
WADI3
THE
extent of the restraint which can be imposed on industrial action
by the “labour injunction” depends on three factors: the range of
civil liabilities which the acts
of
those organising and participating in
industrial action may attract; the extent of the protection against
those liabilities afforded by sections
13-17
of the Trade Union and
Labour Relations Act
1974
(T.U.L.R.A.). as amended; and the
criteria on which interlocutory injunctions are granted
or
refused.
Associated Newspapers
Group
Ltd.
v.
Wade
reveals further develop-
ments in the law on each
of
these matters. The case was brought by
various publishers and advertisers against the general secretaries of
the National Graphical Association (NGA) and Society of Litho-
graphic Artists, Designers and Engravers (SLADE). It arose out
of action taken by these unions in a longstanding dispute with the
owners of the
Noftingharn Evening
Post,
who permitted their em-
ployees to belong to trade unions but had refused to recognise the
NGA for collective bargaining. The unions had succeeded
in
per-
suading most of the conccrns which advertised regularly in
the
Post
to cease doing
so.
To bring pressure on the remaining
16,
they
instructed their members in newspaper offices and printing houses
not to handle adverts from these concerns for newspapers and certain
other publications. This note concerns the judgments in the Court
of
Appeal dismissing an appeal against the granting of an interlocutory
injunction to restrain this
blacking.”
32
I19791 2
W.L.R.
487, 499a,
P.
33
The policy ground for allowing
specific
performance
to
some purchasers
does
not seem
to
apply to vendors:
see
e.g.
R.
Posner.
Ecotionifc
Atmlysis
of
Law
(1973),
p;,61. Fry,
Specffic
Performance
(6th ed.,
1921),
p.
33,
suggests that damages
do not place the vendor
in
the same situation as
if
the contract had been
performed.”
It
would seem that financially they do, and this alone is normally
considered relevant. Another justification has been expressed as a doctrine of
affirmative mutuality,”
but
this would appear to
be
obfuscation rather than
justification
:
see
e.g.
Spry,
Equltnble
Remedies
(1971),
pp.
58-60.
1
[1979]
I.C.R.
664; [I9791
1
W.L.R.
697; 119791
I.R.L,R.
201
(C.A.),
referred
to
below as
Wnde.
Page
references are to the
W.L.R.

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