Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow § 207.: Public employments.— - A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, vol. 2

Return to Title Page for A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, vol. 2

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Law
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

§ 207.: Public employments.— - Christopher G. Tiedeman, A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, vol. 2 [1900]

Edition used:

A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint (St. Louis: The F.H. Thomas Law Book Co., 1900). Vol. 2.

Part of: A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, 2 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


§ 207.

Public employments.—

But when the employment is connected with a public interest; and, particularly, when it is connected with the enjoyment of a franchise or privilege, not enjoyed by private individuals,—a privilege which is granted because it will promote the public welfare, such as the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, and the like,—the public is interested in the proper conduct of the business; and any disturbance of, or interference with, its regular and orderly prosecution will materially affect the public interest. Where the privilege is a monopoly, as is practically the case with the telegraph in the United States, a general disagreement of the employer with his operatives may often stop the wheels of industry and produce a general paralysis of all commercial energies; and although the operatives of the railroad or of the telegraph are no more entitled to the aid of the law in enforcing their demand, or in securing better terms from their employers, than the strictly private workman, any disagreement between the railroad and telegraph companies and their employees affects the public interest by interfering with their means of communication and transportation; and to promote the general welfare, not to aid the operatives, it is a legitimate exercise of the police power of the State to compel both parties to submit their claims to a competent tribunal; thus adjusting their differences, and preventing an injury to the public. There may be a practical inability to enforce even such a law, because of the powerful political influence of the capitalists; but it is nevertheless, justifiable, on constitutional grounds, because the legal equality is disturbed in these cases by the grant to the corporation of a franchise, a privilege not obtainable by the workman.1

CHAPTER XV.

STATE REGULATION OF CORPORATIONS.

SECTION208.The inviolability of the charters of private corporations.
209.State control of corporations.
210.Freedom from State control, as a franchise.
211.Regulation of corporations in general.
212.Laws regulating rates and charges of corporations.
213.Regulation of foreign corporations.
214.Regulation of railroads.

[1]Note.—The labor contract and the relation of employer and employee have been already fully discussed in Chapter IX. and the reader is referred to the sections of that chapter relating thereto for what otherwise he might expect to find in this chapter.