Picketing - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition picketing

Definition :

Picketing [fr. piquet Fr., a diminutive of pique a pike]. In its legal sense this word means the stationing of men to watch and accost workmen passing between their homes and place of employment in order thereby to induce them to come out on strike, or to remain on strike. Such proceeding is to some extent legalized by the (English) Trade Disputes Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 47), s. 2 (1) of which is as follows:-

2. (1) It shall be lawful for one or more persons, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer or firm in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, to attend at or near a house or place where a person resides or works or carries on business or happens to be, if they so attend merely for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating informa-tion, or of peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working.

But the right of picketing is limited to peaceful attendance, and by the (English) Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, 1927 (17 & 18 Geo. 5, c. 22), s. 3, the attendance in such numbers or otherwise in such manner as to be calculated to intimidate any person in that house or place, is declared to be unlawful. For a definition of intimidation see that Act, s. 3 (2), and the (English) Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875 (c. 86), provides penalties for intimidation, which includes violence, persistent following, and watching and besetting.

As to the meaning of 'trade dispute,' see s. 5, sub-s. (3), of the Act; Conway v. Wade, 1909 AC 506; and that title.

Picketing means 'the marching to and fro before the premises of an establishment involved in a dispute, generally accompanied by the carrying and display of a sign, placard or banner bearing statements in connection with the dispute'. Sometimes accompanied by a polite request asking persons in the employ of an establishment not to assist in the running of that establishment or customers not to patronize that establishment, Damodar Ganesh v. State, AIR 1951 Bom 459 (462).

The word 'picketing' is used in clause (a) of Uttar Pradesh Police Regulations not in the sense of offering resistance to the visitor-physical or otherwise-or even dissuading him from entering the house of the suspect but merely of watching and keeping a record of the visitors, Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1963 SC 1295 (1300): (1964) 1 SCR 332. [U.P. Police Regulations Regn 236(a)]