HC Deb 16 October 1975 vol 897 cc1646-7

Lords amendment: No. 35, in page 35, line 19, leave out subsections (2) and (3) and insert— (2) In subsection (1) "sanction" includes the granting of an injunction or declaration, but does not include the making of an order of Certiorari, mandamus or prohibition. (3) Subsection (2) does not affect the remedies available under section 63(2), notwithstanding that subsection (2) would prevent those remedies being obtainable in the High Court. (4) In relation to Scotland in subsection (1) "sanction" includes the granting of an interdict or of a declarator or a decree ad factum praestandum, but otherwise nothing in this Act shall affect any right to bring any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, which might have been brought if this Act had not been passed.

5.45 p.m.

Dr. Summerskill

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

This amendment is primarily designed to correct two defects in Clause 59. The first defect was that the clause, as it stood, would have allowed a person to seek an injunction in respect of a contravention of the employment provisions of the Bill. Since only a court may grant an injunction, this would mean that a court could have found itself dealing with a "Part II case" without the matter ever having been referred to an industrial tribunal. The amendment corrects this defect.

The second defect was that Clause 59 did not exclude the High Court's jurisdiction generally to make declaratory judgments. Thus, it would have been possible for an aggrieved person to bypass, say, a county court and go straight to the High Court for a declaratory judgment. The amendment ensures that the powers to make declarations are restricted to those expressly given to tribunals and county courts or sheriff courts by the Bill.

Question put and agreed to.

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