Section 2 Status of trade unions.

England, Wales and Scotland

(1)

A trade union which is not a special register body shall not be, or be treated as if it were, a body corporate, but—

(a)

it shall be capable of making contracts;

(b)

all property belonging to the trade union shall be vested in trustees in trust for the union;

(c)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1, it shall be capable of suing and being sued in its own name, whether in proceedings relating to property or founded on contract or tort or any other cause of action whatsoever;

(d)

proceedings for any offence alleged to have been committed by it or on its behalf may be brought against it in its own name; and

(e)

any judgment, order or award made in proceedings of any description brought against the trade union on or after the commencement of this section shall be enforceable, by way of execution, diligence, punishment for contempt or otherwise, against any property held in trust for the trade union to the like extent and in the like manner as if the union were a body corporate.

(2)

A trade union which is not a special register body shall not be registered as a company under the F2Companies Act 1985 and accordingly any registration of any such union under that Act (whenever effected) shall be void.

(3)

No trade union shall be registered under the M1Friendly Societies Act 1896 or the M2Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 and accordingly any registration of a trade union under either of those Acts (whenever effected) shall be void.

(4)

A trade union (other than a special register body) which, immediately before the commencement of this section, was a body corporate shall, on that commencement, cease to be a body corporate and the provisions of section 19 below (as well as this section and section 4 below) shall apply to the trade union on and after that commencement.

(5)

The purposes of any trade union which is not a special register body and, in so far as they relate to the regulation of relations between employers or employers’ associations and workers, the purposes of any trade union which is such a body, shall not, by reason only that they are in restraint of trade, be unlawful so as—

(a)

to make any member of the trade union liable to criminal proceedings for conspiracy or otherwise; or

(b)

to make any agreement or trust void or voidable;

nor shall any rule of a trade union which is not a special register body or, in so far as it so relates, any rule of any other trade union be unlawful or unenforceable by reason only that it is in restraint of trade.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Words repealed by Employment Act 1982 (c. 46, SIF 43:5), s. 21(3), Sch. 4
F2: Words substituted by Companies Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1985 (c. 9, SIF 27), s. 30, Sch. 2

Marginal citations

M1: 1896 c. 25.
M2: 1965 c. 12.

Notes on the whole Act

Textual amendments

F1: Act repealed N.I. (16.7.1992) (E.W.S.) (16.10.1992) by Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52), ss. 300(1), 302, Sch.1.