Lochner v. New York · ¶45

I take leave to say that the New York statute, in the particulars here involved, cannot be held to be in conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment, without enlarging the scope of the Amendment far beyond its original purpose and without bringing under the supervision of this court matters which have been supposed to belong exclusively to the legislative departments of the several States when exerting their conceded power to guard the health and safety of their citizens by such regulations as they in their wisdom deem best. Health laws of every description constitute, said Chief Justice Marshall, a part of that mass of legislation which “embraces everything within the territory of a State, not surrendered to the General Government; all which can be most advantageously exercised by the States themselves.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 203. A decision that the New York statute is void under…

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