Sources.—Labour law, covering the ground indicated above, cannot be found conveniently and completely codified in any country. It is to be sought for in rules of unwritten common law, where any such system exists, in legislative enactments of all kinds, Acts of parliament, decrees of autocratic Governments, codes of all sorts—civil, industrial, commercial, labour. Even in written constitutions we may find principles of labour law (see, for instance, the Polish constitution of 1921). The decisions of higher courts of law must also be considered wherever these are of a binding nature, as in England. These decisions may take the form of expositions or applications of common law principles, or they may be interpretations of the statute law. In some branches of English labour law the decisions interpreting the statute law are extremely important. In some countries, especially Australia, conditions of work are governed also by the terms of compulsory arbitration awards issued by special courts established for the purpose. Another point to be noted is that, in connection with labour law, very free use is made in practically all countries of the method of delegated legislation, that is to say, the delegation by the legislature to executive authorities of power to issue regu lations in connection with the law itself. It may, indeed, almost be said that the most important part of the labour law of some countries is contained in administrative decrees. The quasi-legis lative functions thus delegated may be of various kinds. Executive authorities may be empowered (i.) to bring a bare principle laid down by statute into practical operation, or (ii.) to supplement the general rules laid down by statute by more detailed and technical provisions; or (iii.) to issue rules relating to the ad ministration and enforcement of the law. A striking example of the first of these three types of power may be found in the French law establishing an eight hour day. This measure (forming book II., ch. II. of the Code of Labour) merely lays down a theoretical principle of no effect whatever until a set of administrative regu lations applies the rule of the eight hour day, with any appropriate exceptions, to any particular branch of industry or trade. Thus in examining the French law on this subject, the orders are of far greater practical importance than the Act itself. A more common form of quasi-legislative power in connection with labour law is the second given above. The power to issue detailed tech nical rules suited to widely differing conditions of machinery and industrial processes, has been found an effective and practical means of enforcing proper measures to prevent accidents and injury to health. These rules can be drawn up by expert ad ministrators, engineers or medical men, in consultation with the employers and workers concerned, and it is possible for the rules to enter into minute technical and scientific detail, in a way which would be impossible in any measure debated in a parliament, the members of which could not be either sufficiently informed or sufficiently at leisure to produce the kind of regulations re quired. Powers of the third type, namely to make orders on de tails of administration or procedure, are common especially in connection with workers' compensation and insurance laws.
This article deals primarily with the law of England, which may be taken to include Wales. But a few points may be noted in connection with the corresponding law in other parts of the British commonwealth. In Scotland the English common law has no application. The law respecting contracts of service must there be sought for in the system of law known as Scots law (q.v.). But most of the statutory labour law of England applies also to Scotland. There are, however, a few important exceptions, especially as regards the employment of children, since Scotland has separate Education Acts and the Employment of Children Act 19o3 is still in operation there, although in England now ab sorbed into the education law. In Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, the labour law of England in operation there at the time of the constitutional changes of 1922 remained in force.
The parliament of Northern Ireland can amend this law, subject to the possible intervention of the British parliament. The Irish Free State, like all other self-governing dominions, is free to legislate on this matter quite independently of the British parlia ment. The English common law relating to contracts of service applies (subject to statutory amendment) in all overseas British territory acquired by settlement. But in territories ceded or acquired by conquest when an established system of law already existed, any such system still takes the place of the English law. Thus we find Roman Dutch law in South Africa, French law in Quebec, Hindu and Mohammedan law in India. In all the over seas dominions (except New Zealand), labour legislation is com plicated to some extent by the existence of both central and provincial legislatures between which powers are divided.
As regards the law of England, we find the whole of the strictly "protective" law in Acts of parliament and in orders issued in pursuance of those Acts. The Acts must be read in the light of judicial decisions of the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords, interpreting them. For the law regulating the contractual relations of employer and employed, it is necessary to examine in the first place the English common law, the principles of which have to be deduced from the judicial decisions of many centuries. For certain purposes rules of equity also must be re membered, although it is no longer necessary in practice to dis tinguish whether any rule has its origin in common law or equity. But these unwritten rules of law and equity have been greatly developed and overlaid by statute law, which in its turn must be read in the light of judicial decisions interpreting it.