New York Court of Appeals
Aida T. Rhodes, Respondent v. the Sperry and Hutchinson Company, Appellant
October 23, 1908193 N.Y. 223
Summary
The Court affirmed the judgment, holding that Chapter 132 of the Laws of 1903, which requires written consent before a person’s name or portrait may be used for advertising or trade, is constitutional. The statute does not violate the New York State Constitution’s due‑process guarantees of liberty or property, nor the United States Constitution’s Contracts Clause, and it operates only prospectively, not affecting pre‑existing pictures. The decision rests on the legislature’s broad power to create new torts and offenses when not limited by constitutional provisions.