c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 185 regulated the worker’s duty to be loyal and to treat workmates in an accommodating manner. The relationship’s character of a free contract meant that duties and rights were based upon the parties’ agreement.At the same time, the committee claimed that it was “obvious” that the relationship to which the agreement brought the parties, by itself and independently of every consensus, created certain rights and duties. These rights and duties, which flowed from the labour contract’s “own nature” needed to be specifically regulated. Many issues were already treated in the Statute of Freedom of Trade of 1864. However its traditional notion of the employer given the power of a “master” (husbondevälde) was considered to be not fully compatible with the idea of a purely economic contract,The draft of 1901 revealed noteworthy tendencies to limiting the duties of the parties to the labour contract in question. On the one hand the text meant that even if the worker was subordinate to the employer’s authority, direction and supervision, he could not without his own consent be used for tasks or matters that were considered to be “really incompatible with his position” (verkligen oförenligt med hans befattning). On the other hand, if the worker was taken ill, and this was not caused by the work he or she was doing, the employer was entitled to dismiss the worker at a month’s notice. For both parties a general term of notice of 14 days was proposed.381 The draft of 1901 can be understood as a step in the direction towards giving some protection to the worker’s position and professional specialisation. It expressly linked itself to that guild tradition which was partly upheld in the Freedom of Trade Act of 1864. Simultaneously it limited the employer’s right to make use of the worker’s labour, but also of his duty to take care of the worker’s social welfare. However, the drafts of 1900 and1901 381 Förslag till lag om vissa arbetsaftal, afgifvet af dertill i nåder utsedde komiterade (Draft on an Act on Individual Labour Contracts). Afgifvet den 19 oktober 1901. Stockholm1901, 9-10 section, pp. 15-18, 56-59, 72, Appendix, p. 3. See also Prop. 1911:43, pp. 24 (section 11), 90-91, 103-104.
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