24.

Pi
ercev
.Soci
etyofSi
ster
s()
Ar
gued:Mar
ch16,
17,
1925
Deci
ded:June1,
1925
296Fed.928,
aff
ir
med.

 Opi
nion,
Mcr
eynol
ds

FACTSOFTHECASE

TheSt ateofOr egonenactedCompul soryEducat ionActundert he

i
nitiati
ve provisi
on ofherConst it
uti
on byt he v oters ofOregon t
o be
effecti
veonSept ember1,1926,whi chrequir
esev eryparent
,guardi
anor
otherper sonhav i
ngcont r
olorchargeorcustodyofachi l
dbetweeneight
andsi xteeny ear
st osendhim" t
oapubl i
cschoolf ortheperiodofti
mea
publ i
cschoolshal lbehelddur
ingthecurrentyear"inthedistr
ictwher
et he
childresides,andfail
uresotodoisdeclar
edami sdemeanor .

VERSI
ONOFTHEAPPELLANTS

Corpor at
ionscannotclaimf ort hemselv
estheliber
tyguar anteedbyt he
FourteenthAmendment ,and,i
ngener al
,nopersoni nanybusi nesshas
such an i nt
erestin possi
ble customers as t
o enable him t or est
rai
n
exerciseofpr operpowerbyt heSt at
eupont hegr oundt hathewi l
lbe
deprivedofpat r
onage.Theact ionsoughtforr
estrai
ntispremat ureasthe
actisnoty eteff
ecti
ve.

VERSIONOFTHEAPPELLEES
(
Soci
etyofSi
ster
s,Appel
l
ee,t
heSoci
etyofSi
ster
s,Hi
l
lMi
l
itar
yAcademy
)

Theappelleescont entedt hatther esultofenforci

ngt heActunder
considerati
on woul d bedest r
uction ofappel l
ees'primaryschool s,and
perhapsal lotherpr i
vatepr i
mar yschool sf ornormalchi l
drenwi t
hinthe
StateofOr egon.Thesepar tiesar eengagedi nakindofunder t
akingnot
i
nher entl
yharmf ul,butl ongr egardedasusef ulandmer it
orious.Certai
nly
therei snothi
ngi nt hepr esentrecordstoi ndicatethattheyhav efail
edto
dischargetheirobligationstopat rons,studentsortheSt ate.Andthereare
no peculi
ar ci
rcumstances or pr
esent emer
gencies whi
ch demand
ext
raor
dinarymeasur
esr el
ati
vet
opri
maryeducat
ion.

I
SSUE

Whether or notfundamentaltheory of l
i
berty upon whi
ch all
governmentsofthi
sUnionrestexcl
udesanygeneralpoweroftheStatet
o
standar
diz
ei t
schil
drenbyf or
cingthem t
oacceptinstr
ucti
onfrom publ
i
c
teacher
s?

COURT’
SRULI
NG

The cour tr uled t hat t he Four teent h Amendment guar anteed

appell
eesagai nstt hedepr i
vationoft heirproper tywit
houtduepr ocessof
l
awconsequentupont heunl awf uli
nt er
ferencebyappel l
antswiththef ree
choiceofpat rons, presentandpr ospective.Itdecl ar
edt her i
ghttoconduct
schoolswaspr oper ty,andt hatpar entsandguar di
ans,asapar toft hei
r
l
iberty
,mi ghtdi rectt he educat i
on ofchi ldren by sel ecti
ng reputable
teachersandpl aces.Al so,thattheseschool swer enotunf itorharmf ulto
thepublic,andt hatenf orcementoft hechal l
engedst atutewouldunlawf ull
y
depriv
et hem ofpat ronage, andt herebydest r
oyt hei
rowner s'busi
nessand
propert
y.Fi nall
y,t hatt het hreatst oenf orcet heActwoul dcont inuet o
causeirreparableinj ury,andt hesui t
swer enotpr emature.

(
Eleni
taL.Bel
tr
an)