in the case of commonwealth v. hunt (1842) the supreme court of massachusetts ruled that
Commonwealth v. Hunt Commonwealth v. Hunt, 45 Mass. 111 (1842) was a case in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of labor unions. Prior to Hunt the legality of labor combinations in America was uncertain. In March 1842, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that labor combinations were legal provided that they were organized for a legal purpose and used legal means to achieve their goals.