Commonwealth v. Hunt

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Commonwealth v. Hunt 4 Metc, 111 (1842) was a landmark legal decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of labor unions. Before this decision, based on Commonwealth vs. Pullis, labor unions which attempted to 'close' or create a unionized workplace could be charged with conspiracy. However, in March 1842, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that unions were legal organizations and had the right to organize a strike. In 1839, the Boston Journeymen Bootmakers' Society called a strike against all employers who hired non-union members. The leaders of the society, including one Mr. Hunt, were arrested and charged with conspiracy. The municipal courts for Boston found all the defendants guilty, but on appeal Shaw declared that the act of unionization and recognition of that union through strike was legal unless the methods to coerce workers to strike were illegal. Since no threat of force was posed by the union, Shaw sided with the defendants and the Court went with him. Though judges throughout the decade would become more anti-union, Commonwealth v. Hunt served as a legitimizer for non-socialist or non-violent trade unions. External Links: http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_018700_commonwealth.htm