Early child labor statutes were unenforced symbolic gestures

Evidence

Child labor laws on the books were not the same as child labor laws enforced. New Jersey’s law of 1851 outlawed factory work for children under ten; older children could work no more than ten hours a day, sixty hours a week. Punishment for violation was a fine of $50, to be sued for “in an action of debt, in the name of the overseer of the poor.” This law was probably a pious nullity. It expressed official policy, but that was all. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3201

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces the chapter’s recurring gap between law-on-books and law-in-action (see also ch17 and ch33 notes on reported cases overstating actual practice). — connects to: Cultural redefinition of childhood, not work itself, made child labor a social injustice — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3768; Symbolism arises when modernity severs objects from their human labor origins — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 396; The social forces pushing a statute explain its draftsmanship and form — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 482

Broader Connections

• Cultural redefinition of childhood, not work itself, made child labor a social injustice #qualifies (0.78) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3768
• The social forces pushing a statute explain its draftsmanship and form #qualifies (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 482
• Symbolism arises when modernity severs objects from their human labor origins #expands (0.72) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 396