15 USC § 17 - Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t15/s17"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "15 USC § 17 - Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations"
title_number: 15
title_name: "COMMERCE AND TRADE"
section_number: "17"
section_name: "Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations"
chapter_number: 1
chapter_name: "MONOPOLIES AND COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Oct. 15, 1914, ch. 323, § 6, 38 Stat. 731.)"
---


# § 17. Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations

The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations, instituted for the purposes of mutual help, and not having capital stock or conducted for profit, or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations from lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof; nor shall such organizations, or the members thereof, be held or construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade, under the antitrust laws.

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**Source Credit**: (Oct. 15, 1914, ch. 323, § 6, 38 Stat. 731.)

## Editorial Notes

### References in Text

The antitrust laws, referred to in text, are defined in .