ABSTRACT
although the main interest in the trade union movement of any country lies in its membership, structure, policy, and power, a knowledge of its legal position is essential for a full understanding of its place in the community and of the attitude taken towards it by the legislature and the judicial authorities. In the present section an account is given of some of the main features of the legal position of British trade unions, but the problems reviewed are common also to other countries, each country, however, having its own system of regulation. The position at the time of writing is outlined, without tracing the historical evolution of trade union law through its many changes after 1824 when unions ceased to be unlawful as criminal conspiracies.
