| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | There's an act that fixes the minimum wages for women and minors. Parrish is a chambermaid who wants to get that minimum wage (she has been paid less, it seems). |
| Posture: | Some prior litigation alleging that the act is unconstitutional; appears that the lower court found that it was not. |
| Issue: | Is the minimum wage statute constitutionally valid? |
| Holding: | Yes. Overruled. |
| Rule: | Women are different from men, so this is OK. |
| Reasoning: | We know there's supposed to be freedom of contract. What is this
freedom? It means no deprivation of liberty without due process.
Society's morals, health, safety and welfare demand the protection
of the law. Liberty, therefore is the absence of arbitrary
restraint, not immunity even from reasonable regulation.
It is fitting to place women in their own class, because of their physical structure and social role, and the importance of preserving the strength and vigor of the race. Oh, boy. |
| Dicta: | |