The Gazette 1967/71

would not reform the Trade Union structure. The unions most resisted at present by employers were the white collar unions, at a time when technical change was tending towards white collar pre-

of forming a subsidary company in Sweden. De claration papers necessary are similar to those required in Ireland and Mr. Goldie discusses such topics as share capital, directors, limitation of dividends, guaranteed tax liability and partner ship. There are, however, certain restrictions which are outlined by Mr. Goldie relating primarily to the purchase of property in Sweden. Special per mission for the acquisition of property must be obtained from the King in Council by foreigners. He assures readers that the authorities are very liberal in issuing permits to foreign compamies wishing to acquire factories or industrial pro perties for the operation of a business. According to the Swedish Stock Corporation Act the mem bers of the Board of Directors and the Managing Director must be Swedish citizens resident in Sweden. This also applies to anyone authorized to sign for the Company. It is however possible to receive permision from the Board of Com merce for one third of the members of the Board of Directors to be foreign nationals. Photocopies of the pamphlet may be had on application to the Secretary of the Society- price 2/6d. "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" A recent case reported in 2 All E.R. 1968 at page 421 was concerned with the protection of Birds Act, 1954 and the sale of a Bramblefinch hen. The appellant was a Mr. Partridge and solicitors engaged in the case were Messrs. Pea cock and Goddard. CASES OF THE MONTH Solicitor's delay In March, 1959 the plaintiff's, a building com pany, began work on extensions to a private house for the defendant F, manager of a company which in 1962 went into liquidation. The plaintiffs were not paid for all their work and at first applied to the company for the balance, but in June 1962 issued a writ claiming against F £7,719 for materials and work done on the house. F's de fence was that he was not personally liable. The plaintiff's solicitors took no action for 9 months. F then indicated that he might wish to introduce third party proceedings but after 2 years' delay abandoned that plan and in mid 1965 his solici tors changed tactics and asked for particulars of a new issue challenging the amount of work done and its costs. Further delay ensued while parti- 41

dominence in many sectors. The Institutions of Labour

The main question here was whether there should be legal intervention of a major type such as compulsory arbitration. The Professor felt it unlikely that legislation along these lines would be suggested by the Royal Commission, the more likely solution being the appointment of one or more men with the task of looking at procedures here, and proposing regularly methods by which they could be improved. He hinted that these industrial "ombudsmen" could be trouble shooters for industry as a whole at procedural level. Collective Agreements The main issue here was whether or not these agreements should be legally enforceable. One possibility was that employers be given the right to exact penalites from a union if its members stepped out of line, though this was objected to in principle as it involved "making peace-men of union officials". It would be more logical to allow legal sanctions against the workers themselves, perhaps in the form of deductions from pay with this penalty to follow the worker even if he changes his job. It is, however, possible that unions would refuse to negotiate collective agree ments in the face of such sanction. To counter this it was suggested by some that agreements should be a statutory procedure enforced against union and employer alike. Strike Law Professor Wedderburn pointed out that against the background of interlocutory injunctions it was becoming harder for Trade Unions to take even official strike action. In Britain many major decisions in this field were awaited, some of them with implications for the whole structure of labour law. STARTING A BUSINESS IN SWEDEN Mr. Ormonde Goldie a Conferee at the Inter national Bar Association Conference in July has published a pamphlet on the above topic. Mr. Goldie is a solicitor in Stockholm and in his pamphlet discusses some of the practical aspects