c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 139 Movements such as Marxism and Germanic romanticism could reach similar conclusions, namely that a personal, ethical component as well as the worker’s subordination marked distinctive features of the “nature” of an employment relationship.As a consequence, the contractual notions were eclipsed by factors which lay beyond the reach of the parties. In 1890 theViennese academic socialist,Anton Menger, asserted that since the socially stronger classes in reality could dictate the terms of labour agreements, the principle of freedom of contract could lead to the suppression of the lower classes.Thus the institutions of private property and succession guaranteed to the propertied classes that their power of controlling the means of production should be preserved.279 In the following year, Pope Leon XIII promulgated the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which levelled criticism against individualistic liberalism and gave a stimulus to the Catholic socialistic movement.280TheTreaty of Versailles in1919laid down the basic principles of ILO. Among these was the principle that work could not “only” be regarded as a commodity or an object of trade.281At the same time, the employers and the owners of capital could hardly accept a contractual model that specified the duties of the employees. It would make it difficult to maintain an effective and profitable enterprise and a broad framework to adapt production to new demands.Would it not mean an extremely rigid system if the employer had to renegotiate the terms of work every time production needed to be altered? This issue was particularly apparent when the industrial units grew larger and involved hundreds of workers. Furthermore, a negative effect of an absolute contractual doctrine (if there ever had been one) was that the employer would not be the sole judge concerning whether his orders were in accordance with his contractual rights. It was true that the contract itself 279 Menger 1890. 280 Ray 1995, p. 10; Leo(n) XIII 1891. 281 Vigneau 1997, pp. 129-133.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=