The Status of British and American Trade Unions as Defendants in Industrial Dispute Litigation

Abstract

IN the UK and USA over the last hundred years the view has been expressed that trade unions have outgrown their legal classification as unincorporated associations.' Both jurisdictions have had to wrestle with the central problem of whether a trade union is a legal entity which has the capacity to sue and be sued in its own name. 2 The major practical issue, which is inextricably linked to the legal issue, is whether the common fund of a trade union should be vulnerable to attack by a plaintiff in an action against either the union in its own name or in a representative action against the union. Statutory experiments giving unions the direct option of obtaining corporate status have proved to be unsuccessful on both sides of the Atlantic.' Nevertheless the status of trade unions as unincorporated associations has been materially affected by statutory intervention and a question, which still remains unanswered, is the extent to which statutory enactments have either directly or indirectly changed the overall status of a trade union to that of a quasicorporate entity. One of the central issues relating to industrial dispute regulation is whether or not court orders or damages awards should be enforced against trade unions in their own name. United Kingdom and federal US legislation has approached