J. S. Mill and the formation of the doctrine of the legal regulation of wages

Abstract

This article is devoted to a whole range of topical problems associated with understanding the legal regulation of wages as one of the main institutions of labor law. In preparing this article, the authors relied on historical, comparative legal and systemic structural methods. The authors linked the genesis of the teaching on wages with the work of the British scientist J.S. Mill. It is reasonably argued that his broad approach, based on a sociological, philosophical, economic and legal analysis of this phenomenon, allowed him to come to very significant conclusions regarding the economic incentives for labor. In the opinion of the authors, the decisive contribution of the British scientist lies in the fact that he separated the «laws» of production from the «laws» of distribution. This opened the way to the possibility of establishing state standards for wages, as well as its legal regulation at three levels: state, social partnership and individual contractual. For the British scientist, the mechanism for fixing wages was a compromise between the interests of workers and employers, taking into account the interests of the state and society. The authors concluded that this approach meets modern realities and is consistent with the important role of collective agreements and local acts in establishing the remuneration system.