Ritchie v. People’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 6 district · 141 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 160 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If an owner cannot be deprived of his property without due process' of law, he cannot be deprived of any of the essential attributes which belong to the right of property without due process of law. Labor is property. The laborer has the same right to sell his labor and to contract with reference thereto as any other property owner. The right of property involves as one of its essential attributes the right not only to contract, but also to terminate contracts. * * * In view of what has been said, it cannot be doubted that the plaintiff in error, Charles Gillespie, had a right to terminate his contract, if he had one with Ritchie, subject to civil liability for any termination which should be unwarranted. One citizen cannot be compelled to give employment'to another citizen, nor can any one be compelled to be employed against his will. The act of 1895, now under consideration, deprives the em ployer of the right to terminate his contract with his employe. The right to terminate such a contract is guarantied by tbe organic law of the state. The Legislature is forbidden to deprive the employer or employe of tbe exercise of that right. The Legislature had no authority to pronounce the performance of an innocent act criminal, when the public health, safety, comfort, or welfare is not interfered with. The statute in question says that, if a man exercises his constitutional right to terminate a contract with his employs, he shall upon hearing be punished as for the commission of a”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ex parte Drayton

2. ““But it is claimed on behalf of the defendant in error that this section can be sustained as an exercise of the police power of the state. The police power of the state is that power which enables it to promote the health, comfort, safety, and welfare of society. It is very broad and far-reaching, but is not without its limitations. Legislative acts passed in pursuance of it must not be in conflict with the Constitution, and must have some relation to the ends sought to be accomplished; that is to say,‘to the comfort, welfare, or safety of society. Where the ostensible object of an enactment is to secure the public comfort, welfare, or safety, it must appear to be adapted to that end. It cannot invade the rights of person and property under the guise of a mere police regulation, when it is not such in fact; and where such an act takes away the property of a citizen, or interferes with his personal liberty, it is the province of the courts to determine whether it is really an appropriate measure for the promotion of the comfort, safety, and welfare of society. Lake View v. Rosehill Cem. Co., 70 Ill. 191 , 22 Am. Rep. 71 ; In re Jacobs, 98 N. Y. 98 , 00 Am. Rep. 636 ; People v. Gillison, 109 N. Y. 389 , 17 N. E. 343 , 4 Am. St. Rep. 465 .””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Kansas Natural Gas Co. v. Haskell

3. ““All matters are properly included in the act, which are germane to the title. The Constitution is obeyed if all the provisions relate to the one subject indicated in the title, and are parts of it, or incident to it, or reasonably connected with it, or in some reasonable sense auxiliary to the object in view.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rural Independent School District No. 3 v. McCracken