Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/272/425.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 05:14:54+00:00

Document:
GRAVES v. STATE OF MINN.
[272 U.S. 425, 426] Mr. Russell C. Rosenquest, of Minneapolis, Minn., for plaintiff in error.
This case involves a single question relating to the constitutionality of the Minnesota statute regulating the practice of dentistry. Gen. Laws, 1889, c. 19, and amendments, embodied in Gen. Stats. 1923, 5757-5763.
Graves, the plaintiff in error, had applied for a license, but had been refused an examination by the board because he had no diploma from an accredited dental college. He was thereafter prosecuted in a municipal court for violating the statute by practicing dentistry without a license. He asserted his fitness to practice, and interposed a challenge to the constitutional validity of the statute. This was overruled, and he was found guilty and sentenced. The judgment was affirmed by the Su- [272 U.S. 425, 427] preme Court of the State, 166 Minn. 496, 207 N. W. 560; and the case is brought here by writ of error on the constitutional question.
Clearly the fact that an applicant for a license holds a diploma from a reputable dental college has a direct and substantial relation to his qualification to practice dentistry. We cannot say that the State is acting arbitrarily or unreasonably when, in the exercise of its judgment, it [272 U.S. 425, 429] determines that the holding of such a diploma is a necessary qualification for the practice of dentistry; or that the distinction made in the granting of licenses between applicants who hold such diplomas and those who do not, is a classification which has no real or substantial basis. And the constitutionality of the statute must be sustained.
This conclusion is in harmony with the decisions in other state courts involving the constitutional validity of statutes regulating the practice of medicine or dentistry which contain similar or analogous provisions, as well as with the earlier Minnesota decisions. In re Thompson, 36 Wash. 377, 78 P. 899, 2 Ann. Cas. 149; State v. Creditor, 44 Kan. 565, 24 P. 346, 21 Am. St. Rep. 306; State v. Green, 112 Ind. 462, 14 N. E. 352; People v. Phippin, 70 Mich. 6, 37 N. W. 888; Ex parte Spinney, 10 Nev. 323; State v. Vandersluis, 42 Minn. 129, 43 N. W. 789, 6 L. R. A. 119; State v. Graves, 161 Minn. 422, 201 N. W. 933. And see Hewitt v. Charier, 16 Pick. (Mass.) 353; Ex parte Whitley, 144 Cal. 167, 77 P. 879, 1 Ann. Cas. 13; Wert v. Clutter, 37 Ohio St. 347; Timmerman v. Morrison, 14 Johns, (N. Y.) 369. And it is not in conflict with the decisions in Smith v. Texas, 233 U.S. 630 , 34 S. Ct. 681, L. R. A. 1915D, 677, Ann. Cas. 1915D, 420, and State v. Walker, 48 Wash. 8, 92 P. 775, 15 Ann. Cas. 257, on which the plaintiff in error relies, which dealt with statutes attaching unreasonable and arbitrary requirements to the pursuit of the employments or trades of locomotive engineers and barbers. These manifestly involve very different considerations from those relating to such professions as dentistry requiring a high degree of scientific learning.

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