Customer Reviews

The Invention of Free Labor: The Employment Relation in English and American Law and Culture, 1350-1870 (Studies in Legal History)

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Steinfeld's book challenges the usual view of the history of American employment law. The usual nutsell account goes: For centuries there was laissez faire; now we at least partly protect worker's rights.

Steinfeld stresses that the at-will rule is a ninetheenth century invention and a radical one at that. He examines the period before the at-will rule to show that the background of modern employment doctrine is the quasi-feudal master-servant relationship, reflected in institutions like 18th century indentured servitude. Steinfeld's achievement is to pull together relatively well known facts and show step by step, how 19th century individualism reacted to prior law by creating the otherwise puzzling body of law known as the at-will rule. A must read for any labor scholar.