The Labour Constitution

The Enduring Idea of Labour Law

Ruth Dukes

Oxford Monographs on Labour Law

Provides a fresh perspective on the debate surrounding the idea of labour law, focusing on democratic values
New analysis of the work of Hugo Sinzheimer and Otto Kahn-Freund and its importance to current debate
Constructs a framework for scholarly analysis of the challenges posed to the protection of workers' interests by global market expansion

The Labour Constitution

The Enduring Idea of Labour Law

Ruth Dukes

Oxford Monographs on Labour Law

Description

By exploring different approaches to the study of labour law, this book re-evaluates how it is conceived, analysed, and criticized in current legislation and policy. In particular, it assesses whether so-called 'old ways' of thinking about the subject, such as the idea of the labour constitution, developed by Hugo Sinzheimer in the early years of the Weimar Republic, and the principle of collective laissez-faire, elaborated by Otto Kahn-Freund in the 1950s, are in fact outdated. It asks whether, and how, these ideas could be abstracted from the political, economic, and social contexts within which they were developed so that they might still usefully be applied to the study of labour law.

Dukes argues that the labour constitution can provide an 'enduring idea of labour law', and an alternative to modern arguments which favour reorienting labour law to align more closely with the functioning of labour markets. Unlike the 'law of the labour market', the labour constitution highlights the inherently political nature of labour laws and institutions, as well as their economic functions. It constructs a framework for analysing labour laws, labour markets, and institutions, to allow scholars to critique the current policy climate and, in light of the ongoing expansion of the global labour market, assess the impact of the narrowing and disappearance of spaces for democratic deliberation and democratic decision-making on workers' rights.

The Labour Constitution

The Enduring Idea of Labour Law

Ruth Dukes

Oxford Monographs on Labour Law

1:Introduction
2:Hugo Sinzheimer and the Economic Constitution
3:The Labour Constitution in the Nation State: Germany and the Institutionalization of Codetermination
4:A Labour Constitution Without the State? Otto Kahn-Freund and Collective Laissez-Faire
5:From Collective Laissez-Faire to the Law of the Labour Market
6:Labour Constitution of the European Union: The Social Dialogue
7:A Plurality of Labour Constitutions?
8:Labour Law or the Law of the Labour Market?

The Labour Constitution

The Enduring Idea of Labour Law

Ruth Dukes

Oxford Monographs on Labour Law

Author Information

Ruth Dukes, Professor of Labour Law, University of Glasgow

Ruth Dukes is a Professor of Labour Law at the University of Glasgow. She holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh (LLB), the Humboldt University in Berlin (LLM with distinction), and the London School of Economics (PhD). In 2010, she was awarded the Modern Law Review's Wedderburn Prize for her article 'Otto Kahn-Freund and Collective Laissez-Faire: an Edifice without a Keystone?'. In 2011-12 she was an Early Career Fellow of the AHRC and a MacCormick Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Employment Rights.

The Labour Constitution

The Enduring Idea of Labour Law

Ruth Dukes

Oxford Monographs on Labour Law

Reviews and Awards

"Dukes presents a convincing argument which outlines the attractiveness of the labour constitution as an idea... For anyone interested in the question of what is labour law this book is highly recommended reading and certainly makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature." - Rebecca Zahn, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations

"A brave book that retrieves and defends the goals of emancipation and democracy against contemporary theorising that accepts the market as the measure of and mechanism for achieving workplace and economic justice... An important contribution to debates about the crisis of labour law." - Eric Tucker, Modern Law Review

"Thoughtful and thought-provoking... It merits a very wide readership among all serious students of labour law." - Bob Simpson, Industrial Law Journal

"I really enjoyed the deliberate stirring up of thinking in Dukes' work... If ensuing debates reawaken discussion of the big battles to be fought for/ by workers, such as freedom and democracy, and capital vs labour, Dukes will have succeeded rather spectacularly in reclaiming old approaches." - Alice Belcher, Edinburgh Law Review

"In this brilliant monograph, Dukes develops a rich account and application of the old ideas of labour law within the context of advanced globalization and the complex interaction between different legal orders concerned with the regulation of work." - Alan Bogg, Professor of Law, University of Bristol

"The strength of this marvellous book lies in its duality: it offers a truly original analysis of the evolution of labour law as well as central insights into the relationship between law, economy, and politics. The book is not only a must-read for labour lawyers but also for social theorists and sociologists, as well as political economists and political scientists." - Poul F. Kjaer, Professor, Copenhagen Business School

"Ruth Dukes gifts us an ambitious scholarly accomplishment that conveys a compelling message. In its origins, labour law was committed to achieving egalitarian redistribution, democratizing economic life, and ending domination and subordination in work. Recently, it has forsaken these enduring aspirations. We should recover and modernize them, and re-orient our work in their light." - Karl Klare, Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Labor and Employment Law and Legal Theory, Northeastern University