RD
Contract law is case driven, that is to say that it is almost entirely based upon precedent. Thus, if what InFin stated with regard to BM is fact, it seems probable that it has established law (since InFin implies that it was the first case on the subject of bonding). I would be grateful if anyone here is able to cite the case in question. I have not found a BM case of any significance with respect to bonding in High Court cases, only in the Industrial Court.
On a more positive note, you are right in another respect in that precedent in the cases does not set the law in concrete. Change should, and does, occur as has been pointed to by FNG. And different facts in any particular case allow room for manoeuvre in legal argument.
Despite precedent already set, I remain optimistic that, in the fullness of time, the practice of bonding pilots in the tens of thousands of pounds over several years will eventually be held to be unlawful. This will probably not happen in the High Court but in a meritorious case appealed all the way to the Court of Appeal and/or the House of Lords.
By the way, RD, I have enjoyed the spirit and the content of your arguments. Very well done indeed.