The Law of Picketing
| Author | A. N. Khan,K. Gillance |
| Published date | 01 October 1975 |
| Date | 01 October 1975 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X7504800404 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CHIEF
INSPECTOR K. GILLANCE, M.A., LL.B.
Cleveland County Constabulary and
A. N. KHAN, M.A., M.Litt., LL.B.,
EI.L.,
Dip.Ed.
Senior Lecturer in Law, Teesside Polytechnic
Riverine College of Advanced Education
THE
LAW
OF
PICKETING
The
authors wish to thank Professor Maurice Kay, LL.B., Ph.D., of the
Law Department, University of Keele, for his help and guidance.
Picketing "is disliked and condemned by employers; justified
and practised by the men; it is constantly discussed in the press
and is often the subject matter of prosecution in our courts of law'",
This observation, made by a Member of Parliament in 1890, re-
mains apt and applicable even today. The topic would seem,
therefore, to be of sufficient importance to warrant discussion
and clarification and is of special importance to the policeman and
for this reason it is intended in this article to concentrate on the
criminal legal aspects.
The word "picketing" was first used in a court of law in 1847'
without any real definition of meaning. The Royal Commission
on Trade Unions (1869) defined it as follows:
"Picketing consists in posting members of the
union
at all the approaches
to the works struck against, for the purpose of observing
and
reporting
the workmen 'going to
or
coming
from
the works, and of using such
influence 'as
may
in
their
power
to
prevent the workmen from accepting
work there'".
In 1867, when every effort was made by the judiciary to suppress
trade unions and industrial action, a Judge said that picketing
was aimed at subjugating other people's minds. Baron (later Lord)
Bramwell added,
'George
Howell,
The
Conflicts
of
Capital
and
Labour
(London 1890).
'R.
v. Selby 5Cox C.C. 495.
'p. xxi.
October 1975 270
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