(1900–01) Successful trial in Britain of a suit brought by the Taff Vale Railway Company against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS).
In August 1900 the ASRS struck for higher wages but settled within two weeks when the company used strikebreakers. The company sued the union for violating the Protection of Property Act, and the courts held that a union could be sued for damages caused by a strike, effectively eliminating the strike as a weapon of organized labour. Opposition to the decision spurred the growth of the Labour Party and led to the passage of the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, which nullified the decision's effect.