Abstract
The New York "bakeshop case," in which the Supreme Court of the United States invalidated a 10-hour maximum workday for bakery employees, is among the best known decisions of American constitutional law. This familiarity does not stem from approbation, however; the Court's majority opinion and holding enjoy the dubious distinction of being among the most fulsomely denounced of all Supreme Court decisions. Only the classic dissent of Mr. Justice Holmes passes muster.
The great significance of Lochner v. New York lies in the fact that it was the focal point in a judicial move to fasten on the country by constitutional exegesis unsanctioned by the Constitution a pattern of economic organization believed by the Court to be essential to the fullest development of the nation's economy. Without appreciation of this dimension of Lochner, the lesson of this episode in constitutional history, however read, will be lost for evaluation of other instances where pressures build to induce the Court to discover in the Constitution what is not there but arguably ought to be in furtherance of fundamental postulates of political and social organization.
How to Cite
15 Ariz. L. Rev. 419 (1973)
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