This book features essays by leading legal scholars on ‘landmark’ labour law cases from the mid-19th century to the present day. The essays are acutely sensitive to the historical and theoretical context of each case, and the volume provides original and sometimes startling new perspectives on some familiar friends.

There are few activities as distinctively human as work and labour. The book traces the development of labour law through the social struggles and economic conflicts between workers, trade unions, and employers. The narrative arc of its landmark cases reveals the richness and complexity of the human story played out in the working lives of real people. It also charts the remarkable transformation of the constitutional role of courts in labour law, from instruments of class oppression to the vindication of workers’ fundamental rights at work.

The collection will be of interest to students, scholars, and legal practitioners in labour and equality law, as well as students in management studies, industrial relations, and labour history.