Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/272/306/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 13:06:46+00:00

Document:
1. A decision by a state supreme court as to the separability of parts of a state statute from other parts found invalid by this Court is binding on this Court. P. 272 U. S. 308.
2. Upon review of a state court's judgment, facts not in the record and not noticed judicially cannot be considered. P. 272 U. S. 311.
3. Mere reference by the state supreme court to another case as a controlling decision did not incorporate the record of that case into the record of the one in which the reference was made. Id.
4. There is no constitutional right to call a strike solely for the purpose of coercing the employer to pay a disputed stale claim of a former employee, a member of the union. P. 272 U. S. 311.
5. As applied to such a case, § 17 of the Kansas Industrial Relations Act, making it unlawful "to induce others to quit their employment for the purpose and with the intent to hinder, delay, limit or suspend the operation" of mining, and § 19, making it a felony for an officer of a labor union willfully to use the power or influence incident to his office to induce another person to violate § 17, are within the power of the state, and do not deny the liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. P. 272 U. S. 309.
6. Neither the common law nor the Fourteenth Amendment confers the absolute right to strike. P 272 U. S. 311.
Error to a judgment of the Supreme Court of Kansas which affirmed sentence imposed on Dorchy under 19 of the Kansas Industrial Relations Act for using his influence as a labor union official to induce a strike in violation of § 17. See S.C. 264 U. S. 264 U.S. 286.
Section 17 of the Court of Industrial Relations Act, Laws of Kansas Special Session 1920, c. 29, which reserving to the individual employee the right to quit his employment at any time, makes it unlawful to conspire "to induce others to quit their employment for the purpose and with the intent to hinder, delay, limit or suspend the operation of" mining. Section 19 makes it a felony for an officer of a labor union willfully to use the power or influence incident to his office to induce another person to violate any provision of the Act.
Dorchy was prosecuted criminally for violating § 19. The jury found him guilty through inducing a violation of § 17; the trial court sentenced him to fine and imprisonment, and its judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. Kansas v. Howat, 112 Kan. 235. Dorchy duly claimed in both state courts that § 19, as applied, was void because it prohibits strikes, and that to do so is a denial of the liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Because this claim was denied, the case is here under § 237 of the Judicial Code as amended.
This is the second writ of error. When the case was first presented, it appeared that, after entry of the judgment below, certain provisions of the Act had been held invalid by this Court in Charles Wolff Packing Co. v. Court of Industrial Relations, 262 U. S. 522. The question suggested itself whether § 19 had not necessarily fallen as a part of the system of so-called compulsory arbitration, so that there might be no occasion to consider the constitutional objection made specifically to it. That question being one of statutory interpretation which had not been passed upon by the state court, the case was reversed without costs and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion of this Court. Dorchy v. Kansas, 264 U. S. 286. Thereupon the Supreme Court of Kansas decided that § 19 is so far severable from the general scheme of legislation held invalid that it may stand alone with the legal effect of an independent statute, and it reaffirmed the judgment of the trial court. Kansas v. Howat, 116 Kan. 412. By the construction thus given to the statute we are bound. The only question open upon this second writ of error is whether the statute. as so construed and applied. is constitutional.
urged. In the second, it discussed only the question of statutory construction. In the first, it stated merely that the case is controlled by State v. Howat, 109 Kan. 376. Court of Industrial Relations v. Charles Wolff Packing Co., 109 Kan. 629, and State v. Howat, 109 Kan. 779. In these cases, which came to this Court for review in Howat v. Kansas, 258 U. S. 181, and Charles Wolff Packing Co. v. Court of Industrial Relations, 262 U. S. 522; 267 U. S. 267 U.S. 552, there was no occasion to consider the precise claim now urged -- the invalidity of § 19 when treated as an independent statute. Nor was this question referred to in any way. But the claims made by Dorchy below properly raised it, and, as the judgment entered involves a denial of the claim, we must pass upon it. The question requiring decision is not, however, the broad one whether the legislature has power to prohibit strikes. It is whether the prohibition of § 19 is unconstitutional as here applied. Dahnke-Walker Milling Co. v. Bondurant, 257 U. S. 282, 257 U. S. 289. The special facts out of which the strike arose must therefore be considered.
"been settled by the joint board of miners and operators but [that] the company refuses . . . to pay Brother Mishmash any part of the money that is due him."
There was, however, no evidence that the claim had been submitted to arbitration, nor of any contract requiring that it should be. The claim was disputed. It had been pending nearly two years. So far as appears, Mishmash was not in the company's employ at the time of the strike order. The men went out in obedience to the strike order, and they did not return to work until after the claim was paid, pursuant to an order of the Court of Industrial Relations. While the men were out on strike, this criminal proceeding was begun.
August 31, 1898, as the date of his birth; another August 31, 1899. Hence, the dispute. These additional facts were not put in evidence in the case at bar. Kansas v. Howat, 109 Kan. 376, was a wholly independent proceeding. Mere reference to it by the court as a controlling decision did not incorporate its record into that of the case at bar. See Pacific R. Co. v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., 111 U. S. 505, 111 U. S. 517-518. And it does not appear that the court treated these facts as matters of which it took judicial notice. We must dispose of the case upon the facts set forth in the bill of exceptions.
The right to carry on business -- be it called liberty or property -- has value. To interfere with this right without just cause is unlawful. The fact that the injury was inflicted by a strike is sometimes a justification. But a strike may be illegal because of its purpose, however orderly the manner in which it is conducted. To collect a stale claim due to a fellow member of the union who was formerly employed in the business is not a permissible purpose. In the absence of a valid agreement to the contrary, each party to a disputed claim may insist that it be determined only by a court. Compare Guaranty Trust Co. v. Green Cove R. Co., 139 U. S. 137, 139 U. S. 143; Red Cross Line v. Atlantic Fruit Co., 264 U. S. 109. To enforce payment by a strike is clearly coercion. The legislature may make such action punishable criminally, as extortion or otherwise. Compare People v. Barondess, 16 N.Y.S. 436; 133 N.Y. 649. And it may subject to punishment him who uses the power or influence incident to his office in a union to order the strike. Neither the common law nor the Fourteenth Amendment confers the absolute right to strike. Compare Aikens v. Wisconsin, 195 U. S. 194, 195 U. S. 204-205.

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