LABORI, FERNAND (1860-1917), French lawyer, was born at Reims April 18 1860. He was educated at Reims and Paris, and spent several years in England and Ger- many. He was called to the bar in 1884, and rapidly made a reputation as a brilliant lawyer and advocate, being counsel for the defence in most of the important political trials of the day during a period of nearly thirty years. It was his con- duct of the Dreyfus case, however, which placed him at the top of his profession and earned him his unique reputation. He fought with unremitting energy for his client during both the first and second revisions of the trial, in 1898 and 1899, a task attended with considerable danger, as political passions were so strongly ex- cited at the time that Labori was shot at and wounded at Rennes on the eve of his cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution. Dreyfus was not finally declared innocent until 1906, and Labori never once relaxed his efforts on behalf of the unfor- tunate officer. Other notable trials in which he was concerned were the prosecution of Emile Zola for libel ( 1 898) , which arose out of the Dreyfus case; the Humbert affair (1902); and the trial of Madame Caillaux for the murder of M. Calmette, editor of the Figaro (1914), when he secured her acquittal. He died in Paris March 14 1917.
LABOUCHERE, HENRY DU PRE (1831-1912), Radical politician and proprietor of Truth, was born in London Nov. 9 1831, the son of John Labouchere, of Broome Hall, and nephew of Lord Taunton (see 26.453). He was educated at Eton, and, after spending a short time at Cambridge, entered the diplomatic service in 1854, becoming in 1863 second secretary to the British embassy at Constantinople. In 1864 he abandoned diplomacy for politics, and in 1865 was elected Liberal member for Windsor, but was unseated on petition. In 1866 he won a by-election for Middlesex, but failed to be reflected in 1868. In 1880 he again entered the House of Commons as Radical member for North- ampton with Mr. Bradlaugh as his colleague, and this seat he retained until his retirement in 1905. He began his journalistic career with the Daily News, of which he became part proprietor just before the Franco-German War, and he was himself the author of the Letters of a Besieged Resident, sent to that news- paper from Paris by balloon post during the siege, addressed to his wife in London. In 1874 he became associated with Edmund Yates on the World (see 28.908); but two years later he started Truth as a rival society paper, destined, as he himself said, " to be another and a better World." It had a remarkable record in the exposure of shams and organized impostures, especially frauds on the charitable. Many libel actions were brought against it, but in 25 between 1897 and 1907 only three verdicts were given definitely against the paper. For many years Mr. Labouchere himself contributed racy articles and notes, and he was to the end popularly identified with Truth, though in fact he left the direction in later years first to Mr. Horace Voules and then to Mr. Bennett, and took no active part either in writing or editing. He was a thorough Bohemian, and after his death the whole story of his life connexion with Truth was very candidly told in a series of admirable articles in its columns. As a politician " Labby " was the chartered jester of the House of Commons, but his pungent and somewhat cynical speeches were the expression of highly independent democratic con- victions, deeply opposed to all forms of social privilege or Jingo imperialism. He was a strenuous advocate of the abolition of the House of Lords (see 20.845, 846); at the time of the Parnell Com- mission he had much to do with the unmasking of Pigott; and he was a member of the inquiry into the Jameson Raid, his hostility to Mr. Chamberlain being as pronounced as against Lord Rosebery when the latter became leader of the Liberal party. He considered himself entitled to office when his party was in power, and was decidedly mortified at not getting it from Mr. Gladstone. In 1868 he married Miss Henrietta Hodson, a popular actress. After 1903 he lived mainly in Italy, at a villa near Florence, where he died Jan. 15 1912. He left a fortune of some two millions sterling to his daughter, who married first a son of the Marquis di Rudini, and secondly Prince Gyalma Odescalchi.
See Algar Labouchere Thorold, Life of Henry Labouchere (1913).
LABOR, DEPARTMENT OF (United States): see LABOUR MINISTRY AND DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.
LABOUR LEGISLATION (see 16.7*). The decade 19 10-20 was very productive of labour legislation, partly the natural outcome of years of agitation and the growing political power of Labour, and partly the result of the strong economic position in which Labour found itself as a result of the World War and the change of spirit which developed during it. While important progress has been made in connexion with the regulation of the conditions of employment of women, young persons and children, labour legislation has also advanced largely in new directions, such as the limitation of the hours of employment of all classes of workpeople, the fixing of minimum rates of wages for badly paid industries, and the development of social measures such as insurance against sickness, accident or unemployment. One of the most interesting developments, and one which may have far-reaching results, has been the movement towards inter- national labour legislation.
The tendency towards uniformity in industrial conditions in the principal countries, and the world-wide increased economic and political power of the working-classes, had already resulted in a series of industrial laws in the various countries, very broadly on uniform lines. It would appear that Switzerland, in 1876, was the first country to invoke the aid of European diplo- macy with a view to international labour legislation. Following on conferences in regard to international labour legislation held at Berlin in 1890, at Zurich in 1897, and at Paris in 1900, there was established in 1901 the International Association for Labour Legislation. By the international treaties of Berne of 1906, the use of white phosphorus in the match industry was forbidden in the interests of the health of the workers, and a night rest of ii hours secured for female industrial workers.
A development in this direction, so great as to constitute a new era, came with the labour provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. These, together with the subsequent history of the International Labour Office set up under the treaty, are dealt with in the article on INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION.
UNITED KINGDOM
A series of Acts extending over more than a century had prescribed in the United Kingdom a detailed code for the pro- tection of workers in factories, mines and shops, and especially for the protection of women, young persons and children. Labour legislation was tending strongly in new directions before the World War. Except for war purposes it was temporarily interrupted, but the importance which labour legislation had reached is indicated by the establishment of a separate Ministry of Labour (see LABOUR MINISTRY) by the New Ministries and Secretaries Act, 1916.
Before proceeding to a more detailed statement of the various Acts concerning labour that were placed on the statute book between 1910 and 1921, reference may be made to the point emphasized by Prof. Tillyard, that legislation in England is so usually associated with Parliament and with Parliament alone, that it may not be generally realized that, taking into consideration quantity only and disregarding importance, probably the larger part of existing enactments regarding labour have not been directly passed by Parliament but are the creation of inferior bodies to whom law-making powers have been delegated. The reason is that industrial legislation in many cases can hope to be successful only on condition that complicated details are patiently investigated and interested persons listened to. Parliament has of late years become more and more content to
- These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
