The Slaughter-House Cases
In Louisiana during the period 1830-1860, disease spread from the butcheries to the water pipes. After exhausting other options, Louisiana passed an act that consolidated all slaughtering activity in New Orleans. This meant that they would create a state-chartered monopoly –the Crescent City Slaughterhouse–and grant a monopoly over slaughterhouse operations in New Orleans in the name of safety. Private butchers were forced to close their establishments and work at Crescent City. Hundreds of butchers from the Butchers’ Benevolent Association among neighboring organizations filed lawsuits going against the Crescent City Monopoly. These butchers argued that state-authorized monopoly was unconstitutional under the Thirteenth (abolishing slavery & coerced labor) and Fourteenth (Privileges or Immunities and Due Process) Amendment. More specifically, the butchers felt that pursuing livelihood was a “privilege or immunity” that came with citizenship.
Breakdown Verdict.
A 5-4 ruling determined that the Crescent City corporation did not violate either of these amendments; The majority argued that the 13th Amendment largely referred to African slavery, and additionally that the law did not deprive the butchers of property without due process. Moreover, they remarked that butchers could earn a salary by working for Crescent City, and therefore no unconstitutional activity was occurring. Finally, Justice Samuel Miller rejected the “privilege or immunity” statement by the butchers, enforcing that the clause protects citizenship at the national level, not the state level of smaller rights. Dissenting Justice Stephen Field thought that the 14th Amendment should not have been limited to protecting slaves, and that it should apply to the common law itself.
Result Going Forward.
The Slaughterhouse Cases significantly narrowed the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities clause, limiting its abilities to protect individuals from state regulation. As a result, many constitutional protections against state action were developed later through the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. . During later civil rights litigation, lawyers increasingly relied on those clauses instead of the Privileges or Immunities Clause to expand constitutional protections.
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