c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 293 In a legal historical perspective, the fears of Nils Törnkvist and Oskar Hagman in the 1928 parliament must be seen as warranted. The decisions referred to of 1929, 1932, 1933 and1934, of which Arthur Lindhagen was chairman in three of these cases, have as a rule been understood as being favourable to the employers.All the employer’s prerogatives of section 23 of the Swedish Employers’ Confederation charter of 1905 and the December compromise of 1906 were protected by the impartial jurists in the labour court. Even Arthur Engberg’s prophecy from the same parliament came true: the labour court being tied to its own precedents fixed Swedish labour law to a situation what corresponded to the wishes of the employers around 1930 (and 1906), despite the fact that new values would later gain general recognition. The consequences of the labour court’s references to “natural connection” decided cases in a direction that well reflected the unequal balance of power not only on the labour market but also in the court. The ambition to maintain industrial peace with the help of the collective system was likely a strong underlying motive.This also assumed that the workers’ right to belong to a union was protected as well. In several decisions from the early years of the 1930s, the court stated with reference to the “nature” of the agreement, that the right of association was included in collective agreements even if this was not expressly stated in the agreement.597 The shaping of the 20th century Swedish contract of employment was closely connected with the emergence of a collective system.The legal foundation consisted of the labour court’s lawmaking. No individual facts of interpretation or any single argument whatsoever were included in the reasons for the court’s decision 1929:29. Instead it appeared as being based on a legal principle of a more general character.598 597 AD1930:52,AD1933:94,AD1934:51. Geijer & Schmidt 1958, pp. 36, 83, 257. 598 Sigeman 1977, pp. 205-206, 224-226; Göransson 1988, pp. 262, 270.
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