Mortgage moratoriums and social insurance: In re Opinion of the Justices (Old-Age Pension Opinion) – New Hampshire, 1931 (154 A. 217); In re Opinion of the Justices (Deposit Insurance Opinion) – Massachusetts, 1932 (181 N.E. 833); Howes Bros. Co. v. Massachusetts Unemployment Compensation Commission – Massachusetts, 1936 (5 N.E.2d 720); Waterville Realty Corp. v. City of Eastport – Maine, 1939 (8 A.2d 898)
Fair competition codes: State v. Old Tavern Farm – Maine, 1935 (180 A. 473); Amitrano v. Barbaro – Rhode Island, 1938 (1 A.2d 109); State v. Auclair – Vermont, 1939 (4 A.2d 107); State v. Moore – New Hampshire, 1940 (13 A.2d 143)
“Doubtless the statute before us would be condemned by an earlier generation as a temerarious interference with the rights of property and contract; … with the natural law of supply and demand. But we must not fail to consider that the police power is the least limitable of the powers of government and that it extends to all the great public needs; that [laws] … to stimulate the production of a vital food product by fixing living stds of prices for the producer, are to be interpreted with that degree of liberality which is essential to the attainment of the end in view; … and that mere novelty is no objection to legislation.” – Justice __ Hudson (dissent), in Old Tavern “Possibly … the public will suffer some real and appreciable disadvantage if the supply is not limited to the need … But whatever the advance in the scope of the due exercise of the police power, the time has not come when it may be said that legislation may prohibit entrance into a legit field of activity for the reason alone that sufficient in number are already engaged therein to meet the public demand for its product or service.” – Justice __, in Moore | ![]() “Measures may be enacted to secure some degree of cooperation between banks to the end that general solvency and financial strength may be promoted, particularly in times of panic and general depression.” - Justice __, in the Bank Insurance Opinion “[Legislation] in mitigation of a public evil may place the cost on those in connection with whose business the evil arises. … The contributions are exacted from the plaintiffs as well as from ees to effectuate some regulation of the evils of unemployment, in which both groups are interested and which is a subject within the scope of legislative competency.” – Justice __, in Howes Bros.![]() Milk cooperative, Burlington, Vermont (1941) - courtesy Library of Congress
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EMPIRE OF LAWS - The Legal History of the 50 American States > 1. NEW ENGLAND LEGAL HISTORY > 1.6. New England (1925-1965): Depression, War and Cultural Nationalization >