Abstract

The Author runs through a century of history of Labour Law, mainly but not only in Italian and German literature, in search for the relationship between Labour Law and freedom. The protection role of legal and collective agreed rules, which can not be derogated by individual contract, has been challenged by some recent neo-liberal approaches; the author investigates roots and developments of that relationship, up to our days when the traditional separation between public and private law looks to be outdated and some scholars invoke a new role for the former. The Author concludes encouraging Labour Law not to abandon the search for the "impossible law" of a real freedom for everyone.