The scientific work analyzes the historical development of the legislation on picketing on the territories of modern Ukraine. It is established that the current state of the legislation on picketing is a reflection of its long evolution. The main consequence of the evolution of legislation is that today the right to picket cannot be limited by the state, except cases when the actions of picketers pose a threat to society. At present, the legislation on picketing consist norms that determine the right to conduct this type of peaceful assembly, and norms that determine liability for exceeding the state limits in the interests of society. It is concluded that thanks to the analyzed historical processes today any subject of labor law has the opportunity to organize the picketing or participate in picketing to protect their rights and interests.
It is established the historical development of British legislation on picketing. It is argued that British legislation on picketing gives citizens wide opportunities to protect their rights, although in different historical epochs the state of legal regulation was different. Today, British picketing legislation differs significantly from picketing legislation in other countries, as freedom of peaceful assembly in the United Kingdom is natural and doesn’t require additional regulation. It is noted that the current legislation of the United Kingdom imposes certain restrictions on picketing, but their number is insignificant.
The essence of picketing under the legislation of Ukraine and Great Britain is substantiated. It is established that the essence of picketing in the Ukrainain labor law should be considered through the prism of the following three aspects: 1) picketing is a form of direct democracy; 2) picketing is a kind of peaceful assembly in labor law; 3) picketing is a form of demonstration in labor law. It is concluded that the essence of picketing in British law differs from the Ukrainian model in the following aspects: 1) picketing in the UK has a labor law nature, and despite the fact that in recent years it is widely used in other areas, this form of peaceful assembly is mainly applied by workers who are dissatisfied with the state of ensuring their social and economic rights and interests; 2) in Great Britain, the essence of picketing is that it is an instrument of industrial action, which realizes as an open reaction of workers to the state of ensuring their social and economic rights and interests; 3) in the UK there are no rules for organizing and conducting picketing, but there are some restrictions on the actions of picketers.
The Ukrainian and British doctrines of protective labor relations for picketing are studied. It is established that at this moment the doctrine of the protective legal relationship on picketing in Ukraine is unformed. As the legislation on picketing doesn’t actually exist today, picketing is considered by scholars not as an independent phenomenon, but as a kind of peaceful assembly, a form of direct democracy, a form of demonstration, an instrument of strike participants. This is due to the fact that quite often in practice the rights of picketers are violated or ignored altogether. The specificity of the British doctrine of protective labor relations for picketing in comparison with the Ukrainian lies in the "traditional" legal system of the United Kingdom. As a result, a number of rights, including the right to peaceful assembly in the United Kingdom, do not require regulation because they are natural and belong to everyone. That is why the British doctrine of protection of the legal relationship for picketing consists of restrictions that must be considered in the process of exercising the right to picket. If picketers have complied all the rules provided by law, and their right to picket has been violated and the picketers want to renew it, a protective legal relationship for picketing arises.
