The Legal Aspect

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 88, 22 November 1912, Page 5

The Legal Aspect

QUESTION OF FORCIBLE ENTRY.

Mr. P. J. O'Regan, legal adviser to the Federation of Labor, has furnished the Federation with the following opinion: BE WAIHI MINERS' UNION. With reference to your inquiry herein the position is perfectly clear. The Waihi Miners' Union is a trade union duly registered in accordance with the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, 1903. In , virtue of the provisions of that Act and its rules it is the lawful owner of certain land and buildings with the contents thereof at Waihi. These buildings Have been violently and unlawfully broken into by certain poTsoiiß, who still continue in possession, and who have taken possession of private documents, money and other valuables of the union. Without adverting to the criminal aspect of tho matter, regarding which, at the present stage, I prefer to" say nothing, seeing that a man has been killed, the civil position is beyond controversy. The illegal act by whirh the union Has heen dispossessed of its property in no way affects its legal rights, even if the forcible entry has been done with the approval of the police, for the approval nf the police cannot divest an illegal act of its illegality. Accordingly, the Wnihi Miners' Union has a civil Temedy which can be effectively enforced in due course. Even if in the meantime possession is given up, an action still lies for damages. As for the publication of private documents through the press, 1 prefer not to comment on either the conduct of the persons in possession or the-.people who have published them, but that, as well as tho seizure of the- documents themselves, would, no doubt, be proper factors in determining the question of damages hereafter.