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Vine v National Dock Labour Board: HL 1957

The plaintiff was employed under a statutory scheme for the employment of dock labourers. He appealed against a finding that the rules on dismissal contained within the scheme were not the only ones appertaining.
Held: (reversing the majority decision of the Court of Appeal) The respondent wrongfully delegated its power to dismiss a worker to a disciplinary committee instead of deciding the issue itself. It was that process of delegation to a committee which did not itself have the power to dismiss which led to the declaration that the termination of the appellant’s employment was a nullity and that he was entitled to damages. That was an ultra vires act of the respondent itself. Referring to the ordinary master and servant case, Viscount Kilmuir LC said: ‘This is an entirely different situation from the ordinary master and servant case; there, if the master wrongfully dismisses the servant, either summarily or by giving insufficient notice, the employment is effectively terminated, albeit in breach of contract. Here, the removal of the plaintiff’s name from the register being, in law, a nullity, he continued to have the right to be treated as a registered dock worker with all the benefits which, by statute, that status conferred on him. It is therefore right that, with the background of this scheme, the court should declare his rights.’ A declaration that a dismissal was null and void would not be granted in the case of an ordinary contract of employment.
Lord Keith of Avonholm said that the case did not involve ‘a straightforward relationship of master and servant’. It involved the validity of certain administrative procedures.
References: [1957] AC 488, [1956] 1 QB 658, [1956] 3 All ER 939, [1957] 2 WLR 106
Judges: Viscount Kilmuir LC, Lord Keith of Avonholm
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
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Last Update: 22 September 2020; Ref: scu.250063 br>

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