What did the Supreme Court decide in Lochner v. New York?

In Lochner v. New York (1905), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 to strike down a New York state law that limited bakery employees to a 10-hour workday and a 60-hour workweek.1

The majority opinion, written by Justice Rufus Peckham, held that the law was an unconstitutional infringement on the freedom of contract—the right of employees to sell their labor to employers—which the Court identified as a liberty protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.1

The Court reasoned that the state could only restrict this contractual freedom through its police power if the regulation was a legitimate health measure. Because the Court concluded that baking was not a dangerous or unhealthful trade, it determined the law was not a valid exercise of state authority.1

This decision was famously challenged by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who argued in his dissent that the Constitution should not be interpreted to enforce a specific economic theory, such as laissez-faire, and that the law was a reasonable exercise of the state's power.1