Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ To speak accurately, it is not the statute that gives a right to relief in equity, but the fact that in the particular case the threatening effects of a continuing violation of the statute are such as only equitable process can prevent. The right to equitable relief does not depend upon the nature or source of the substantive right whose violation is threatened, but upon the consequences that will flow from its violation. ”

“ Nothing contained in the anti-trust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations, instituted for the purposes of mutual help, and not having capital stock or conducted for profit, or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations from lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof; nor shall such organizations, or the members thereof, he held or construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade, under the anti-trust laws.' ”

“ A member of a labor union may refuse to work with nonunion men, but this does not entitle him to threaten manufacturers for whom he is not working, and with whom he has no concern, with loss of trade and a closing of the channels of interstate commerce against their products if they do not conduct their business in a manner satisfactory to him. ”

“ Free access to the markets through unobstructed channels of commerce is the very breath of the life of such manufacturing establishments; and to say that complainants are not specially injured by the conduct of defendants seems to me to require that the eyes be closed to the evidence in the case and to the familiar facts of commerce. ”

“ There is no relation of employer and employee, either present or prospective, between the parties in this case Defendants who are employees are in one branch of industry in New York city; complainants are employers of labor in another branch of industry in distant states. Nor is there any dispute between them concerning terms or conditions of employment. Section 20 prohibits an injunction restraining any person 'from ceasing to patronize or to employ any party to such dispute, or from recommending, advising, or persuading others by peaceful and lawful means so to do ”

“ It is altogether fallacious, I think, to say that what is being done by the present defendants is done only for the purpose of strengthening the union. Conceding this purpose to be lawful, it does not justify or excuse the resort to unlawful measures for its accomplishment. ”

“ Stat. 1916, §§ 8835a, 8835o, contains such a provision; but this was inserted only because some of the Federal courts had held-erroneously, as I think-that private parties could have no relief by injunction against threatened violations of the Sherman Act. These decisions will be discussed below.↑ 'Sec. 6. That the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. ”