In the UK the received wisdom has tended to be that, historically, British labor law was abstentionist or non-interventionist, best epitomized by the words of Lord Wedderburn who has written that ...collective bargaining has developed in a system which depends very little on the law, which is covered by very few decisions of the judges, and which is controlled by statute very little, if at all. It is not until we reach the Industrial Relations Act 1971 that we discover the first attempt in peacetime to move to a legally regulated system. However, the accuracy of this non-interventionist...

Douglas Brodie examines how the common law has evolved to address concerns about corporate social responsibility.

Theories of enterprise liability have, historically, had a significant influence on the development of various aspects of the law of torts. Enterprise liability has impacted upon both statutory and common law rules. Prime examples would include laws on workmen's compensation and products liability. Of late, in a number of jurisdictions, enterprise liability has been a powerful catalyst for change in the employer's responsibilities towards third parties by prompting changes to the law on vicarious liability. The results have been seen most dramatically where the employer's responsibility for...

A cohesive study of the current regulatory approaches to work across different jurisdictions, this prestigious collection of essays from established international scholars examines the diminishing relevance of the current model of labour law and considers the form, nature and challenges of regulation in a global labour market.