Opinion ID: 1711317
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Enjoyment of the Gains of Their Own Industry

Text: The Fishers claim that capping their damages at $100,000 violates their right under article I, section 2 of the Missouri Constitution: ... that all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry.... The Missouri Constitution of 1820 did not reference the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry. This phrase first appeared in the Declaration of Rights of the Missouri Constitution of 1865 as the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor. Mo. Const. of 1865, art. I, sec. 1. Although the 1875 Constitution modified the wording to the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry, this was not a change in substance. 2 Debates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1875, at 7 (Isidor Loeb & Floyd C. Shoemaker, eds., 1932); Mo. Const. of 1875, art. II, sec. 4. The language in the 1875 Constitution continued unchanged in the 1945 Constitution. 5 Debates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention 1945, at 1423 (1944). Charles D. Drake, the author of the Constitution of 1865, studied the constitutions of other states, particularly the Maryland Constitution of 1864. David D. March, Charles D. Drake and the Constitutional Convention of 1865, 47 Mo. HIST. REV. 110, 112 (1953), citing Charles D. Drake, Autobiography of Charles D. Drake 1054-55 (date unknown) (unpublished manuscript, on file with Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Columbia, Missouri). In fact, the language in the Missouri and Maryland constitutions is practically identical. Compare Mo. Const. of 1865, art. I, sec. 1 (the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor) with Md. Const. of 1864, art. 1 (the enjoyment of the proceeds of their own labor). This provision was intended to apply to the condition of the slaves recently freed. Edward Otis Hinkley, The Constitution of the State of Maryland 121 (John Murphy & Co. 1867). The voters who approved the 1865 Constitution would have understood the provision on fruits of their own labor to apply to the recently freed slaves. No other provision in the 1945 Missouri Constitution expressly prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude. See 1 Journal of the Constitutional Convention of Missouri 1943-1944, at 13-14 (82d day, Feb. 14, 1944). The origin of the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry phrase is in workplace slavery. Equally, the cases of this Court discussing this phrase concern labor, occupations, professions, and the marketplace. See Appendix A. Only three times has this Court invoked this phrase to invalidate a law: twice when government forced individuals to work without compensation, State ex rel. Scott v. Roper, 688 S.W.2d 757, 768-69 (Mo. banc 1985); Moler v. Whisman, 243 Mo. 571, 147 S.W. 985, 987-88 (1912); and once when the state prevented individuals from selling a lawful product, State ex rel. Knese v. Kinsey, 314 Mo. 80, 282 S.W.2d 437, 439 (1926). Cf. Baue v. Embalmers Federal Labor Union No. 21301, 376 S.W.2d 230, 234-35 (Mo. banc 1964)(picketing of funeral home for purpose of preventing owner-partners from embalming in their own establishment, held against public policy in article I, section 2). Clearly, this constitutional provision does not negate sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity existed when Missouri joined the Union. Findley v. City of Kansas City, 782 S.W.2d 393, 395 (Mo. banc 1990). Sovereign immunity was recognized in Missouri before the enjoyment of gains phrase was added to the Missouri Constitution in 1865, and sovereign immunity prevailed when the Missouri constitutions of 1865, 1875 and 1945 were adopted. When approving Missouri's constitutions, the citizens could never have thought that the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry provision abrogated sovereign immunity. Equally, the enjoyment of gains phrase has no relevance to a partial waiver of sovereign immunity. Section 537.610 does not violate article I, section 2 of the Missouri Constitution. Semble, Schumann v. Missouri Hwy & Transp. Comm'n, 912 S.W.2d 548, 551-52 (Mo.App.1995).