Herrin v. Arnold

1938 OK 440, 82 P.2d 977, 183 Okla. 392, 119 A.L.R. 1471, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 283
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 26, 1938
DocketNo. 28307.
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 1938 OK 440 (Herrin v. Arnold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herrin v. Arnold, 1938 OK 440, 82 P.2d 977, 183 Okla. 392, 119 A.L.R. 1471, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 283 (Okla. 1938).

Opinions

GIB'SON, J.

The point at issue here is the validity of those sections of article 2 of chapter 24 of the Session Laws of 1937 which have to do with the fixing of minimum prices barbers may charge for their services. The ease is here on application for writ of prohibition to restrain a district judge from making any further orders in an injunction suit brought by the Board of Barber Examiners of the State of Oklahoma against the plaintiffs here.

According to their petition the plaintiffs have for many years conducted their barber shop in the city of Edmond and have, by charging low prices, built up a substantial business; and they have at all times conformed to sanitary regulations.

On September 11, 1937, an organized group of more than 75 per cent, of the .duly licensed and practicing barbers in said city entered into an agreement establishing minimum prices. This and the acts of the Barber Board in reference thereto were done under the purported authority of section 12 of said act. The agreement was presented to the board and, so far as this case is now *393 concerned, was duly considered and an investigation made. Thereupon an order was made fixing minimum prices for barber work in the city of Edmond. When the plaintiffs refused to conform to the order, the injunction suit and this action as a consequence thereto resulted. Sufficient showing has heretofore been made to invoke the jurisdiction of this court. Such further facts as may be pertinent will be stated in the discussion.

The validity of the statute is challenged on the ground that the act, particularly section 12, is in contravention or violation of the following sections of the State Constitution : Section 2 of article 2; section 1 of article 4; section 1 of article 5; section 5'9 of article 5; section 7 of article 2; and section 51 of article 5. It is further contended that it violates article 5 of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Appellate courts of four states have declared a similar law unconstitutional. Duncan v City of Des Moines. 268 N. W. 547 (Iowa); City of Mobile v. Rouse, 173 So. 254, 173 So. 266 (Ala.) ; State v. Ives, 167 So. 394 (Fla.); Ex parte Kazas, 70 P.2d 962 (Cal. App ). Of these eases the first three were decided before the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the ease of West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish (300 U. S. 379, 81 L. Ed. 703, 57 S. Ct. Rep. 578, 108 A. L. R. 1330), which specifically overruled the case of Adkins v. Children’s Hospital, 261 U. S. 525, 67 L. Ed. 785, 43 S. Ct. Rep. 394.

The Adkins Case had long stood as a guidepost pointing the way legislation in reference to price fixing for personal services or commodities should go. But with increasing economic complexities, greater demands for governmental supervision, keener competition, and the increasing exercise of the latent power of the Legislature in reference to conditions and hours of labor and safeguards for the public interest, it became evident that old guideposts must be repainted or their direction changed. Hence we find in the New York milk control case of Nebbia v. New York, 291 U. S. 502, 78 L. Ed. 940, 54 S. Ct. Rep. 505, and others, a tendency to change the direction; and in the West Coast Hotel Case the highest court in the land turned the signpost completely around, adopting in effect the reasoning of the minority in the Adkins Case. Consequently, so far as the federal Constitution is concerned, the question is now: How far in the new' direction may we go before we encounter barriers of the Constitution?

The California case, supra, discusses the West Coast Hotel Case and the others and yet finds the way still barred to legislation such as this. A consideration of that and similar cases is proper and will receive attention at the appropriate places.

Most fundamental of the questions presented. is whether the Legislature has the power to fix or provide for the fixing of minimum prices. This question arises largely under section 2 of article 2 of the State Constitution and the due process clauses of the federal Constitution. The State Constitution provides that all persons have the inherent right to liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry. Respecting this provision we said in Nation v. Chism, 154 Okla. 50, 6 P.2d 766:

“The right to labor or earn one’s livelihood in any legitimate field of industry or business is a right of property, and any unlawful or unreasonable interference with or abridgment of such right is an invasion thereof, and a restriction of the liberty of the citizen as guaranteed by the Constitution.”

The foregoing statement is true, of course, as to any legitimate occupation, and it will be noted that the barrier is against any , unlawful or unreasonable interference or abridgment of the right and not against any interference or abridgment of the right. It will be noted also that in the same case we said further:

“The right to practice the trade of barbering is one of the common occupations of life. The barber has a legal right to practice his trade without hindrance. * * * That that right may be regulated by valid legislation is not disputed.”

The Legislature has attempted to regulate the barbering occupation by prescribing certain sanitary regulations for barber shops and personal conduct. Section 4325 and following, O. S. 1931; chapters 60 and .185, S. L. 1933. Laws of such a nature have been generally upheld as within the police power of the state. See Patton v. Bellingham (Wash.) 38 P.2d 364, and annotation thereto in 98 A. L. R. 1088. And the Supreme Court of the United States early declared that the federal Constitution does not prevent the state for the good of its society from passing legislation to promote the health, peace, morals, education, and good order of the people. Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 27, 28 L. Ed. 923, 5 S. Ct. *394 Rep. 357. And in Soon Hing v. Crowley, 113 U. S. 703, 28 L. Ed. 1145, 5 S. Ct. Rep. 730, that high court said:

“However broad the right of every one to follow such calling and employ his time as he may judge most conducive to his interests, it must be exercised subject to such general rules as are adopted by society for the common welfare. All sorts of restrictions are imposed upon, the actions of men, notwithstanding the liberty which is guaranteed to each.”

Since then the right to reasonable regulation has been repeatedly recognized by this and other courts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 440, 82 P.2d 977, 183 Okla. 392, 119 A.L.R. 1471, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herrin-v-arnold-okla-1938.