The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-10-01
Decisions Of Courts
Affecting Labor

The United States Bureau of Labor |
Statistics has just issued its annual |
review of court decisions affecting
labor as its Bulletin No. 1863. About |
265 decisions are summarized, dealing
with the application and construction
of the laws, or with the application of
the principles of the common law to
the rights and relations of the worker.
Decisions of outstanding Importance
which are reviewed in this Bulletin
pellate and supreme courts of the
! United States in the famous Danbury
Hatters' Case, holding members of
unions personally liable for damage
from boycotts the dissolution of the
famous injunction in the case of John
Mitchell against the Hitchman Coal &
Coke Co. of West Virginia, and hold
ing labor unions legal and the SUI
preme courts opinion in the Coppage
case, overthrowing the law of Kan
sas which undertook to protect work
men in their membership in labor or
CARNATIONS In the last-named case
the dissenting opinion, which defend
ed the constitutionality of the act, is
also given
The largest group of cases on
single subject is that relating to the
new form of legislation known as
workmen's compensation laws. The
decisions on this subject range from
questions of constitutionality, decided
adversely in the case of the Kentucky
statute and favorably in other state
courts, to the determination of defin-
lions or of single points of dispute.
In considering occupational diseases,
for instance, the Massachusetts courts
hold lead poisoning to be within the
state act, providing for compensation
for personal injuries arising out of
and in tire course of employment"
while the Michigan courts, under the
provisions of state law similarly eX-
pressed, hold that a case of lead
poisoning is not entitled to cOmpensa-
ton. An optic neuritis induced by in
haling poisonous gases was also COM
pensated in Massachusetts. while in
New Jersey the court disallowed a
claim on account of eczema said to
be caused by acids used in a bleach
cry. Other decisions relate to the
mode of computing benefits, the def
milton of the term casual employ
ment,' what constitutes dependency,
wilful act, incapacity, etc. Taken in
connection with an earlier Bulletin on
the same general subject, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics has here presented
one of the most complete collections
laws in existence.
Another important group of deci
sions in a related field is of those de-
termining the application of the fed
elar liability statute to different
classes of railroad employments Sew
eral cases are found which turn on
the nature of the employment of the
injured person, lie, whether in inter-
state commerce or not. The courts
are not uniform in their construction
of this statute, but among the en-
pigments found to be within the act
were those of blacksmith repairing
cars used in interstat commerce, a
t,J1 4, To-
work. wOrkmen installing block sig
nal systems, carpenter building an
addition to freight she'd a laborer
carrying coal to heat a shop in which
interstate cars were being repaired
etc. Employments, which according
to the decisions were excluded, were
workmen constructing cut-offs for
shortening interstate trackaGe, a hos
tier killed by the explosion of the
boiler of a locomotive whose last run
was interstate, and a switch engine
fireman who was at the moment hand
ling only interstate cars, though his
work regularly involved the handling
of both classes of commerce indis-
criminately.
Other classes Of federal laws that
received considerable attention in the
court decisions are those limiting the
hours of service of railroad employees,
and requiring the supply and mainten-
ance of safety appliances.
Other interesting cases are one that
grew out of the textile workers
strike in Massachusetts, in which the
accountability of the collectors of
fund intended for the relief of strik-
ers' families was affirmed; one con-
nected with the bridge workers cam
pagn against non-union employers,
involving the transportation of eXplo-