in this video, eric foner discusses court decisions held against labor on the grounds of individual freedom, specifically liberty of contract. what were the most important decisions made by the court?
The most important decisions Eric Foner is referring to are the Supreme Court rulings that used “liberty of contract” to strike down laws protecting workers and regulating corporations, especially:
Core Answer (What the Court Did)
In the video, Foner highlights decisions where the Court said that laws protecting workers violated individual freedom , understood as the freedom of contract under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The two key types of decisions are:
- Striking down maximum-hours laws for workers
- The Court ruled that state laws limiting how many hours people could work (for example, in bakeries) were unconstitutional because they interfered with the “liberty of contract” between employer and employee.
* This is most famously associated with **Lochner v. New York (1905)** , where the Court invalidated New York’s Bakeshop Act, which had limited bakers to ten hours a day and sixty hours a week.
* The Court said such laws were not a legitimate health or safety measure but an improper interference with the right of individuals and employers to make their own labor contracts.
- Overturning laws that restricted company “scrip” payment systems
- Some states tried to outlaw companies paying workers in scrip —a kind of company-issued currency that could only be used at designated stores—because it trapped workers in unfair economic dependence.
- The Supreme Court overturned these laws on the ground that they violated the property rights of corporations and the liberty of contract, treating such regulations as unlawful interference with corporate freedom and contractual choice.
These decisions collectively:
- Prioritized corporate property rights and contractual freedom over worker safety, wages, and bargaining power.
- Helped define what historians call the “Lochner era” , when courts repeatedly used liberty of contract to strike down labor protections and economic regulations.
How This Fits Foner’s Argument
Foner’s broader point is that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:
- Workers tended to define freedom as economic security, a living wage, and protection from exploitation.
- Employers and the courts defined freedom as the individual right (both of workers and employers) to make contracts without government interference.
By using liberty of contract to:
- Invalidate hour-limit laws, and
- Protect practices like company scrip,
the Court effectively used the language of “freedom” to weaken labor protections , reinforcing employers’ power in the labor market while claiming to defend individual liberty.
Mini Table: Key Elements of the Decisions
| Aspect | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Main constitutional idea | Liberty of contract as part of the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of “liberty” against state interference. | [3][7][1]
| Against hour-limit laws | State laws restricting work hours (like the Bakeshop Act in Lochner) were struck down as violating the right of adults to freely contract for their labor. | [7][1][3]
| Against scrip regulations | Laws that banned company payment in scrip were overturned for infringing corporate property rights and contract freedom. | [2][4]
| Practical impact on labor | Weakened workers’ ability to secure safer conditions, reasonable hours, and fair pay; reinforced employer dominance in the name of “freedom.” | [4][9][2][3]
TL;DR
Foner is pointing to Supreme Court decisions—symbolized by Lochner v. New York and related rulings—that:
- Struck down laws limiting working hours as violations of liberty of contract.
- Overturned laws banning company scrip as violations of corporate property and contract rights.
These cases used “individual freedom” to justify decisions against labor protections and in favor of employers and corporations.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.