Lochner v. New York · ¶11

The question whether this act is valid as a labor law, pure and simple, may be dismissed in a few words. There is no reasonable ground for interfering, with the liberty of person or the right of free contract, by determining the hours of labor, in the occupation of a baker. There is no contention that bakers as a class are not equal in intelligence and capacity to men in other trades or manual occupations, or that they are not able to assert their rights and care for themselves without the protecting arm of the State, interfering with their independence of judgment and of action. They are in no sense wards of the State. Viewed in the light of a purely labor law, with no‘reference whatever, to the question of health, we think that a law like the one before üs involves neither the.safety, the morals nor the welfare of the public, and that the interest of. the public is not in the…

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 198, at 45 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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