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Revisiting A Classic Problem In Statutory Interpretation: Is A Minister A Laborer?, Tammy Gales, Lawrence M. Solan
Revisiting A Classic Problem In Statutory Interpretation: Is A Minister A Laborer?, Tammy Gales, Lawrence M. Solan
Georgia State University Law Review
This study presents a new analysis of an iconic United States Supreme Court case, Holy Trinity Church v. United States (1892). The question in Holy Trinity Church concerned whether a law making it illegal to pay the transportation of a person entering the U.S. under contract to perform “labor or service of any kind” applied to a wealthy Manhattan church that had paid to bring its new rector from England to New York. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the law did not apply to the church’s contract, relying first on the ordinary meaning of “labor” and second on the …