This long-awaited scholarly work examines the growth and background of English labour law during the 20th century. Few branches of the law can have grown with such rapidity, and exercised such influence on the economy, in political life and on society as a whole as has labour law, particularlyin this century. This is the first major study of the growth of labour law and will be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the present-day position of labour law in England.