How did Allgeyer v. Louisiana influence the majority decision in Lochner v. New York?

In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court majority relied on the precedent established in Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897) to define the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.1

Specifically, the Court used Allgeyer to recognize "freedom of contract"—the right of employees to sell their labor to employers—as a fundamental aspect of the "liberty" protected by the due process clause. By framing the New York Bakeshop Act as an unconstitutional infringement on this contractual freedom, the majority argued that the state could only justify such a law if it served to protect public health or the health of workers. Because the Court concluded that baking was not a dangerous or unhealthful trade, it determined that the law did not qualify as a valid exercise of the state's police power.1