Commonwealth v. Hunt decision establishes rights of labor unions.

Supreme Judicial Court reverses an 1832 lower court ruling that convicted members of the Boston Journeymen Bootmakers’ Society for conspiracy “to form an unlawful club” and dismissing a member for his failure to pay dues. The decision gives unions the right to make their own rules and finds that unions are not a conspiracy to restrain trade and not responsible for unlawful acts of its members and that they can legally call for a strike and for a closed shop.