Holden v. Hardy

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Holden v. Hardy

Argued October 21, 1897
Decided February 28, 1898


Full case name:	Holden v. Hardy, Sheriff

Citations:	169 U.S. 366; 18 S. Ct. 383; 42 L. Ed. 780; 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1501

Prior history:	Writ of habeas corpus denied; Holden remanded to custody of Sheriff Hardy

Subsequent history:	None

Holding

Laws limiting working hours in mines and smelters are a legitimate, constitutional exercise of the state police power, given the inherent danger of such work.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
Associate Justices: John Marshall Harlan, Horace Gray, David Josiah Brewer, Henry Billings Brown, George Shiras, Jr., Edward Douglass White, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Joseph McKenna

Case opinions

Majority by: Brown
Joined by: Fuller, Harlan, Gray, Shiras, White, McKenna
Dissent by: Brewer, Peckham

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. XIV; Utah state law

Holden v. Hardy, 169 U.S. 366 (1898), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a Utah state law limiting the number of work hours for miners and smelters as a legitimate exercise of the police power. The majority held that such a law is legitimate, provided that there is indeed a rational basis, supported by facts, for the legislature to believe particular laws are dangerous. The court was quick to distinguish this from other cases of the era which imposed universal maximum hour rules, which it held unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.