The court rule of “originalism,” a doctrine that interprets the Constitution and its amendments as they would have been understood at the time they were written, is also a precursor to Rokuner’s principles. As David Bernstein, a law professor at George Mason University, insists in his 2012 book, Rehabilitation Locner, supporters of freedom of contract are “as the constitutional foundation of the Fourteenth Amendment Framer. He was an ancestor who tried to stick to what he saw. “
Lochner’s proceedings are clearly incorporated into Dobbs’ decision. Judge Samuel Alito, for the majority, needs that rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution are “deeply rooted in the history and traditions of this country,” implied in the concept of orderly freedom. “It is necessary.” Unlike the right to abortion, freedom of contract is widely believed to meet that definition.
Since the Declaration of Independence was adopted 246 years ago, freedom of labor and contract has been regarded as part of the “inviolable right” of “the pursuit of life, freedom and happiness.” The founders took advantage of the work of British philosopher John Locke, who identified “life, freedom, property” as an inviolable right and regarded his ownership as a form of property. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution reflects Locke’s words. “No country will take away human life, freedom or property without due process of law.”
In fact, the idea that citizens have the basic right to sign contracts, especially with respect to trade and employment, was so prevalent by the time the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 that Rockner barely argued. did. The opinion simply argued that New York bakery workers had the right to enter into contracts as “a part of the freedom of the individual protected by the Article 14 amendment.”
Even Lochner did not cover everything with the right to sign a contract. The legitimate exercise of state police power has defeated the rights to the contract. People could not make illegal arrangements and the state was free to protect the health and safety of workers. Lochner explicitly upheld regulations to protect miners whose work was inherently unsafe. However, the court found that there was nothing inherently dangerous about baking.
Nevertheless, many subsequent government regulations that are now taken for granted violate the freedom of contract. For example, in 1923, the court withdrew the minimum wage. (Libertarians have long argued that the minimum wage is a bad economic policy, a violation of personal freedom, and especially harmful to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.) Post-Rockner era The decision was overturned.
