Hugh Collins

This text lays out a course of study combining the traditional subject matter of jurisprudence with a series of introductions to a variety of other theoretical perspectives. It is designed for those taking jurisprudence/legal theory courses, and political science, philosophy and sociology students.

Labour Law, now in its third edition, is a well established text which offers a comprehensive and critical account of the subject by a team of prominent labour lawyers. It examines both collective labour relations and individual employment rights, including equality law, and does so while having full regard to the international labour standards as well as the implications of Brexit. Case studies and reports from government and other public agencies illuminate the text to show how the law works in practice, ensuring that students acquire not only a sophisticated knowledge of the law but also an appreciation of its purpose and the complexity of the issues which it addresses.

Labour Law, now in its third edition, is a well established text which offers a comprehensive and critical account of the subject by a team of prominent labour lawyers. It examines both collective labour relations and individual employment rights, including equality law, and does so while having full regard to the international labour standards as well as the implications of Brexit. Case studies and reports from government and other public agencies illuminate the text to show how the law works in practice, ensuring that students acquire not only a sophisticated knowledge of the law but also an appreciation of its purpose and the complexity of the issues which it addresses.

Should workers ever lose their job because of their political views or affiliations? Should female employees be entitled to wear a headscarf in the workplace for religious reasons? Can it ever be right for an employer to dismiss someone for personal activities undertaken in their leisure time? What restrictions, if any, should be placed on the right to strike ? Engagingly written, this innovative new textbook provides an entry point for exploring these and other topical issues, enabling students to analyse the applicability of human rights to disputes between employers and workers in the UK. It offers an original perspective on the traditional topics of employment law as well as looking in greater depth at new issues, such as employees’ use of social media or the enforcement of human rights in the gig economy. Uniquely, the book considers the most important international Conventions that are relevant for the law in the UK, especially the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter, Conventions of the International Labour Organisation, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. A central question that each of the chapters addresses is whether UK employment law is compatible with human rights law. Each chapter discusses all the key cases drawn from various jurisdictions, including the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Written by a stellar team of authors, this textbook is an invaluable teaching aid for both postgraduate and undergraduate students studying employment law, human rights, human resource management, and industrial relations.

Should workers ever lose their job because of their political views or affiliations? Should female employees be entitled to wear a headscarf in the workplace for religious reasons? Can it ever be right for an employer to dismiss someone for personal activities undertaken in their leisure time? What restrictions, if any, should be placed on the right to strike ? Engagingly written, this innovative new textbook provides an entry point for exploring these and other topical issues, enabling students to analyse the applicability of human rights to disputes between employers and workers in the UK. It offers an original perspective on the traditional topics of employment law as well as looking in greater depth at new issues, such as employees’ use of social media or the enforcement of human rights in the gig economy. Uniquely, the book considers the most important international Conventions that are relevant for the law in the UK, especially the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter, Conventions of the International Labour Organisation, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. A central question that each of the chapters addresses is whether UK employment law is compatible with human rights law. Each chapter discusses all the key cases drawn from various jurisdictions, including the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Written by a stellar team of authors, this textbook is an invaluable teaching aid for both postgraduate and undergraduate students studying employment law, human rights, human resource management, and industrial relations.

Labour Law offers a comprehensive and critical account of the subject by a team of prominent labour lawyers, and includes both collective labour rights and individual employment rights. By placing the law in its social, economic and political contexts, and showing how the law works in practice through case-studies, students will acquire not only a good knowledge of the law but also an appreciation of its importance and the complexity of the issues. Fully updated with recent developments in the field, the text's clear structure, logical chapter organisation, and uncluttered text design combine to make it a truly accessible way into the subject. Suitable for undergraduates and postgraduates studying UK Labour and Employment law, this book is a must-read for those wishing to excel in the field.

Labour Law offers a comprehensive and critical account of the subject by a team of prominent labour lawyers, and includes both collective labour rights and individual employment rights. By placing the law in its social, economic and political contexts, and showing how the law works in practice through case-studies, students will acquire not only a good knowledge of the law but also an appreciation of its importance and the complexity of the issues. Fully updated with recent developments in the field, the text's clear structure, logical chapter organisation, and uncluttered text design combine to make it a truly accessible way into the subject. Suitable for undergraduates and postgraduates studying UK Labour and Employment law, this book is a must-read for those wishing to excel in the field.

This updated edition offers a fresh approach to the law governing employment relations, emphasising the contemporary policy themes of social inclusion, competitiveness, and the rights of citizenship in the workplace. It acts as a succinct and accessible overview for those new to the subject as well as an excellent summary for students. Employment Law covers all the main areas of the subject including contracts of employment, anti-discrimination law, trade unions, industrial action, and human rights in the workplace. It also discusses how UK law, under the influence of EU law and international protection of human rights, has been transformed for the twenty-first century by pursuing new goals such as helping to achieve a better balance between work and life, to improve the competitiveness of business through partnership institutions, and to provide superior protection for the basic rights of employees in the workplace. Offering frequent comparisons with the law of other countries, including the United States, the book also discusses the effectiveness of employment regulation as well as examining the different national and transnational methods available.

This updated edition offers a fresh approach to the law governing employment relations, emphasising the contemporary policy themes of social inclusion, competitiveness, and the rights of citizenship in the workplace. It acts as a succinct and accessible overview for those new to the subject as well as an excellent summary for students. Employment Law covers all the main areas of the subject including contracts of employment, anti-discrimination law, trade unions, industrial action, and human rights in the workplace. It also discusses how UK law, under the influence of EU law and international protection of human rights, has been transformed for the twenty-first century by pursuing new goals such as helping to achieve a better balance between work and life, to improve the competitiveness of business through partnership institutions, and to provide superior protection for the basic rights of employees in the workplace. Offering frequent comparisons with the law of other countries, including the United States, the book also discusses the effectiveness of employment regulation as well as examining the different national and transnational methods available.

Hugh Collins argues that the European Union should develop a civil code to provide uniform rules for contracts, property rights and protection against civil wrongs, thus drawing together the differing national traditions with respect to the detailed regulation of civil society. The benefits of such a code would lie not so much in facilitating cross border trade, but in establishing foundations for a denser network of transnational relations of civil society, which in turn would help to overcome the present popular resistance to effective and functional political institutions at a European level. These principled foundations for a more inclusive and less balkanised civil society in Europe also provide elements of a required European social model that offers necessary safeguards for consumers, workers and disadvantaged groups against the pressures of market forces in an increasingly global economic system.

Hugh Collins argues that the European Union should develop a civil code to provide uniform rules for contracts, property rights and protection against civil wrongs, thus drawing together the differing national traditions with respect to the detailed regulation of civil society. The benefits of such a code would lie not so much in facilitating cross border trade, but in establishing foundations for a denser network of transnational relations of civil society, which in turn would help to overcome the present popular resistance to effective and functional political institutions at a European level. These principled foundations for a more inclusive and less balkanised civil society in Europe also provide elements of a required European social model that offers necessary safeguards for consumers, workers and disadvantaged groups against the pressures of market forces in an increasingly global economic system.

To encourage cross-border transactions in the Single Market of the European Community, the Commission has proposed general framework legislation to set general standards that forbid unfair marketing practices towards consumers, thereby increasing consumer confidence when deciding whether or not to shop abroad in the Community, either in person or through modern methods of electronic purchasing through the Internet. The essays in this volume critically examine the proposed Directive that prohibits unfair commercial practices, and in particular they consider the potential legal and economic implications of a legal duty to trade fairly in the context of general contract law, the protection of consumers, and the needs of competition policy. The distinguished authors of these essays, from Finland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, explain the different approaches of national legal systems to the legal regulation of marketing practices, and assess the compatibility of the proposed Directive with national law and its likely success in achieving the promotion of trade in the Single Market.

Previous editions of this text have consistently been a favourite amongst common law lawyers. This new edition has been brought fully up-to-date and will be of interest to those studying 'advanced' obligations/common law modules. Undergraduates who study contract courses with a strong socio-legal tradition will also find this text invaluable as it uniquely grounds the nature of contract law in its social and political context.

Using an interdisciplinary approach involving economics, sociology and law, Regulating Contracts explores fundamental questions about the purposes and effects of legal regulation of contractual relationships. What kind of social relation do contracts create, or, more precisely, how do contracts govern social interaction. How are contractual relations, or more generally, markets constructed? Does the law play a significant role in particular practices, and in particular, what do lawyers, courts, and legal sanctions contribute to the contractual social order? For what distributive purposes does the law attempt regulation? The controversial conclusions of this study suggest that the law plays an insignificant role in the construction of markets, and that law and lawyers could provide better assistance by using indeterminate regulation that permits the recontextualization of legal reasoning. Legal regulation of contracts concerned with redistributive tasks, such as redressing unfairness, countering unjust power relations, and improving access to justice, is evaluated both with respect to the objectives of regulation and the search for the most efficient and efficacious form of regulation. The argument in the book is that control of unfairness is both desirable and practicable, that power relations should be modified for the sake of efficiency, and that better access to justice is unhelpful to the resolution of contractual disputes.

Discussion of labour law issues from a regulatory perspective is often heavily influenced by certain types of economic analysis and tends to support deregulation of labour markets. While many European countries and the EU itself are committed to ideals of labour standards expressed in such documents as the Charter of Social Rights, there is a noticeable hesitation in enacting these rights due to the fear of adverse economic consequences. The essays in this volume aim to redress the balance in the contemporary regulatory debate by embracing other interdisciplinary perspectives and scrutinizing carefully the justifications for and against special regulation for employment contracts. The book examines labour law as the regulation of a particular kind of contractual relationship, that is, contract of employment, and of the institutional framework, including trade unions, collective bargaining, managerial hierarchies, government departments and agencies, within which it operates. This perspective differs from that of most contemporary studies of labour law by emphasising its public, regulatory character, rather than its origin in private law. Thirty-one expert papers explore a range of issues affecting employment regulation and protection in international, EU and English law, including labour law and economic theory, EU discrimination law, collective bargaining and consultation, regulation of public services, stakeholding, labour market deregulation, the impact of competition law, trade union rights, transfer of undertakings, contract law, unfair dismissal and self-regulation. Together the essays comprise a fundamental reassessment of the need for special regulation of the employment relation. This collection of essays arose from the W. G. Hart Legal Workshop, held at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London, in 1999.

Using an interdisciplinary approach involving economics, sociology, and law, Regulating Contracts explores fundamental questions about contracts and legal regulation. What kind of social relation do contracts create, or, more precisely, how do contracts cover social interaction? How are contractual relations or more generally markets constructed? Does the law play a significant role in contractual practices, and in particular what do lawyers, courts, and legal sanctions contribute to the contractual social order? For what distributive purposes does the law attempt regulation? The controversial conclusions of this study suggest that the law plays an insignificant role in the construction of markets, and that law and lawyers could provide better assistance by using indeterminate regulation that permits the recontextualization of legal reasoning. Legal regulation of contracts concerned with redistributive tasks, such as redress of unfairness, countering unjust power relations, and access to justice, is evaluated both with respect to the objectives of regulation and the search for the most efficient and efficacious form of regulation.

The latest title in the Oxford Monographs on Labour Law series, this study elucidates the general legal rules and principles of the law of unfair dismissal, as well as offering an account of the social, political, and philosophical context in which the idea of protection from `unfair dismissal at work' has developed and currently operates, and will appeal not only to legal academics working in the field of labour law but also to readers interested in jurisprudence and legal theory.

In this introduction to Marxism and the law, Hugh Collins presents a unified and coherent view of Marxism, which he uses to examine the specific characteristics of legal institutions, rules, and ideals. He pays particular attention to the place of ideology in law, the distinction between base and superstructure, and the destiny of law in a Communist society. His principal theme is the Marxist critique of the ideal of the Rule of Law. He argues that the main purpose of a Marxist theory of law is to expose the belief in the Rule of Law as being a subtle and pervasive ideology which serves to obscure the structures of class domination within the State. The author frequently subjects the Marxist approach to criticism and he shows that many of the Marxist claims about law are unproven or misconceived. The book is written in straightforward non-technical language which requires no knowledge of either Marxism or law.