Employer Liability Act, 1938

This annotated volume brings together the original text of the Employers’ Liability Act, 1938 with practitioner-friendly commentary, historical context and practical notes. Enacted to prevent employers from invoking certain technical defences in suits for damages by workmen injured at work, the Act clarified rights and narrowed the scope of defences available to employers. Clause-level annotations explain key definitions (e.g., “workman”), typical judicial responses to employer defences, and illustrative drafting/pleading pointers from historical case law. Because the Act was later repealed by the Repealing & Amending Act, 2016, this edition includes a dedicated repeal note explaining legislative status and cross-references to the modern labour-welfare and compensation statutes that currently govern employer liability and worker compensation in India. Appendices provide a timeline of related labour statutes, model pleadings reflecting the Act’s doctrines, and suggested further reading for researchers and students. This compact resource is ideal for historical research, law-school courses on labour law, comparative analysis and archival reference.