Commonwealth vs. Pullis • 1806 • First reported case arising from ...

Commonwealth vs. Pullis
1806
First reported case arising from labor strike in U.S.
Decided striking workers were illegal conspirators
1794 shoemakers organized “Federal Society of
Journeyman Cordwainers”
Received modest wage increases over next decade
Struck in 1805 for higher wages
Strike collapsed after union leaders were indicted for conspiracy
Trial held in Philly Mayor’s Court which was not a court of record
Only reports existing are from Thomas Lloyd
Eight union leaders were brought to trial
Employers, not gov’t, paid prosecution’s expenses
Argument in Pullis promoted, “that workers were transitory, irresponsible, and
dangerous”, and thus properly the subject of judicial control.’
Defendants found guilty of “a combination to raise their wages”
Union of Philly Journeyman Shoemakers was convicted and bankrupted by charges of
criminal conspiracy
Defendants fined $8 each (one week’s wages) and forced to pay cost of suit
Law that union strikers were illegal conspirators would remain until Commonwealth v.
Hunt

Commonwealth vs. Pullis involved charges by the state of Pennsylvania alleging the
negative impact of labor disputes on the community and the illegality of workers taking
the law into their own hands, as expressed in following language by the presiding judge:
We live under a government composed of a constitution and laws...and every man is
obliged to obey the constitution, and the laws made under it....Shall these, or any other,
men associate for the purpose of making new laws, laws not made under the
constitutional authority, and compel their fellow citizens to obey them, under the
penalty of their existence?...If private associations and clubs can make constitutions and
laws for us...if they can associate and make bye-laws paramount, or inconsistent with
the state laws; what, I ask, becomes of the liberty of the people, about which so much is
prated, about which the opening counsel made such a flourish?
Hence the decision against the cordwainers was as follows:
We cannot and we must not forget that the law of the land is the supreme, and only
rule. We live in a country where the will of no individual ought to be, or is admitted, to
be the rule of action....There is but one place to determine whether violations or abuses
of law have been committed. It is in our courts of justice; and there only after proof to
the fact: and consideration of principles of law connected with it.