freedom of contract
Freedom of contract is the ability of parties to bargain and create the terms of their agreement as they desire without outside interference from the government . It is the opposite of government regulation .
In Lochner v. New York , 198 U.S. 45 (1905) , while Lochner argued that he had the right to freely contract with the employees , he was fined for breaking a state law that restricted the number of hours that his workers could work.
[Last reviewed in January of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team ]
Keywords
Wex
- COMMERCE
- commercial activities
- business law
- commercial law
- contracts
- wex definitions
- business sectors
- commercial transactions
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