This study aims to give undergraduates a firm grasp of the present state of labour law by explaining its recent and tumultuous history from the end of World War II to the end of 1990, but not including the period since Mr Major succeeded Mrs Thatcher as Prime Minister.

1. Collective Laissez-faire ; 2. Full Employment and the Post-war Consensus 1945-1951 ; 3. The Easy Decade 1951-1961 ; 4. Modernization and Experiments with Planning 1961-1970 ; 5. Industrial Justice and the Individual Worker 1968-1971 ; 6. The End of Agreement: Collective Labour Law 1965-1974 ; 7. The Social Contract 1974-1979 ; 8. Reducing the Power of Trade Unions 1979-1990 ; 9. Restructuring the Labour Economy 1979-1990 ; Conclusion - A Post-war Perspective

`A magnificent and much-needed text!' Gillian Morris, Brunel University `This is a fascinating book about a fascinating subject. Such a work was long overdue, but our wait has been well rewarded. This is an outstanding feat of scholarship. Serious students of labour law will find it indispensable.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'a genuinely inter-disciplinary study, rooted in original scholarship but focused on felt teaching needs ... It will be of value to students of industrial relations and labour economics, as well as those struggling to become labour lawyers ... Only those who teach for a living, but have time for research, could have written a text-book of this calibre.' Lord McCarthy, Nuffield College, Industrial Relations Journal 25:1, March 1994 'impressive study ... There is no doubt that in this work Paul Davies and Mark Freedland have made an important and original contribution to the literature both of labour law and the wider subject of the processes by whcih government policies are developed and implemented ... their critique of the whole 45 year period is invariable illuminating and will command wide respect.' Bob Simpson, London School of Economics, The Law Quarterly Review, Vol. 110, April 1994 `There is no doubt that its intended readership, students of law, politics, sociology and economics, will gain much from the range of insights it provides ... There is no doubt that in this work Paul Davies and Mark Freedland have made an important and original contribution to the literature both of labour law and the wider subject of the processes by which government policies are developed and implemented ... their critique of the whole 45 year period is invariably illuminating and will command wide respect.' The Law Quarterly Review `This is a wonderful work of scholarship, reflecting the rigorous thought and study of many years ... Although valuable as simply a compelling account of governmental labour policy during the period, this book is far more than mere narrative. The authors deploy an inter-disciplinary approach to draw out and examine the various influences which firstly set up, and then gradually destroyed, the model of labour law known as collective laissez-faire ... this is an admirably short book, given the ground it covers. It is most attractively written, extensively and very usefully noted, and generous in its acknowledgement of other writers and sources. It also contains that joy to the interested reader - an excellent index for future reference. This reviewer will return to it again and again, as should any student engaged by the history of post-war labour policy.' Cambridge Law Journal `impressive book ... Their explanation for transformation ... is elegantly composed and always readable, effectively synthesising legal, political and economic explanations ... Davies and Freedland have written what is by some distance the best book on this subject ... Labour Legislation and Public Policy points the way to a more specialised approach, which does not lose sight of the essential need to relate law to its economic and political context' Labour History Review

Paul Davies and Mark Freedland co-wrote Labour Law: Cases and Materials (Weidenfeld and Nicolson - second edition 1980) which was very highly respected and became the standard teaching text until it became out of date in the mid-1980s. Paul Davies is the editor of Oxford's Industrial Law Journal and Mark Freedland is the author of The Contract of Employment (OUP, 1972) - sales?