Hence the employers were obliged to charge
that the strikes and boycotts were undertaken in pursuance of an
unlawful conspiracy. Thus the old conspiracy doctrine was combined with
the new theory, and "malicious" interference with "probable
expectancies" was held unlawful. Earlier conspiracy had been thought of
as a criminal offence, now it was primarily a civil wrong. The emphasis
had been upon the danger to the public, now it was the destruction of
the employer's business. Occasionally the court went so far as to say
that all interference with the business of employers is unlawful. The
better view developed was that interference is _prima facie_ unlawful
but may be justified. But even this view placed the burden of proof upon
the workingmen. It actually meant that the court opened for itself the
way for holding the conduct of the workingmen to be lawful only when it
sympathized with their demands.
During the eighties, despite the far-reaching development of legal
theories on labor disputes, the issuance of injunctions was merely
sporadic, but a veritable crop came up during 1893-1894.
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