The concept of property applied by courts in labor cases

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, the Supreme Court enlarged its definition of property in public law. A similar enlargmenet was accomplished in labor law by the use of the injunction as well as by an increasing use of contracts in industiral relations, both of the "yellow-dog" variety and in collective barganind. The consequences of this broader definition of property are examined. With respect to the property rights of business, it is found that it leads to forbidding any interference with a labor market bound by "yellow-dog" contracts and potentially with any labor market at all; with respect to the costumerd' market, any interference to the property rights of the individual worker, they are found to be generally less exactly defined then those of the employer. Finally, property rights of unions are almost unrecognized, except where traade agreements exist in which case labor's rights are correlative with employers'.