FICTION
Lochner v. New York
198 U.S. 45 (1905) · 1905
The Court decided a worker and a corporation were equal persons, freely contracting.
“The general right to make a contract in relation to his business is part of the liberty of the individual protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.”
The Ruling
5–4: New York's Bakeshop Act limiting workers to 60-hour weeks violated the 'liberty of contract' between two equal 'persons' — the baker and the corporation.
The Personhood Argument Not Made
A baker who must accept dangerous conditions or starve is not exercising personhood — he is performing its simulation. 'Freedom' to contract is available only to the party with structural power. Equal legal status is not equal personhood.
The Execution Gap Created
The Lochner era lasted until 1937 — three decades in which minimum wage laws, maximum hours, and child labor restrictions were struck down under the fiction that workers and corporations negotiated as equals.
Primary sources & research
Related cases
Part of The Personhood Prism, the companion to The Execution Gap by Thomas William Hornig. See all personhood cases →