Chavez

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after a general demurrer to his complaint was sustained and he had declined to amend. By the complaint an employer seeks injunctive relief from activities of defendants, a labor union and its secretary, designed to induce plaintiff to enter into a union shop agreement with defendant union. Both plaintiff and a majority of his employes desire such an agreement, i.e., neither plaintiff nor defendants wish to force *173 a union shop upon a group o£ employes whose majority do not freely choose it. But defendants’ activities are, and the execution of the contract which such activities are intended to effect would be, contrary to the provisions of a San Benito County “right-to-work” ordinance.

The controlling issues, it will develop, are (1) whether the state by valid law has occupied the field so comprehensively that the ordinance cannot stand, and (2) whether the complaint states a cause of action under state law. To resolve these issues confidently requires examination of the state’s statutory law concerning not only the relations between labor and management, as such, but also that which regulates relationships and activities…

I concur in the judgment in this case; also in the careful and accurate reasoning of Mr. Justice Sehauer in support of the judgment.

*217 In addition, it is my view that the field has been occupied by the people of the United States when they adopted the Constitution of the United States and by the people of the State of California by the adoption of the Constitution of this state.

The right to contract is a natural and inalienable right protected by both the federal and state Constitutions. The citizen’s rights of liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness, which are protected by the United States Constitution and the California Constitution, apply as fully to his right to contract, unlimited by unnecessary regulation, as they do to the individual’s freedom from arrest or restraint of person. This liberty of contract, which includes contracts to work, contracts to employ, and liberty freely to make such contracts, means freedom from arbitrary restraint, subject only to reasonable regulation to safeguard the public interest.

The power to restrict the right of private contract is strictly limited to police regulations in behalf of the public health, safety, morals and…

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after a general demurrer to his complaint was sustained and he had declined to amend. By the complaint an employer seeks injunctive relief from activities of defendants, a labor union and its secretary, designed to induce plaintiff to enter into a union shop agreement with defendant union. Both plaintiff and a majority of his employes desire such an agreement, i.e., neither plaintiff nor defendants wish to force a union shop upon a group of employes whose majority do not freely choose it. But defendants' activities are, and the execution of the contract which such activities are intended to effect would be, contrary to the provisions of a San Benito County "right-to-work" ordinance.

The controlling issues, it will develop, are (1) whether the state by valid law has occupied the field so comprehensively that the ordinance cannot stand, and (2) whether the complaint states a cause of action under state law. To resolve these issues confidently requires examination of the state's statutory law concerning not only the relations between labor and management, as such, but also that which regulates relationships and…