Xequecal wrote:
I'm trying to point out that allowing people to contract for anything leads to horrible atrocities. Major employers have a considerable amount of power. How about a major employer updating their employment contract to require that all employees send their children to work 16 hours a day for the company without pay? If you don't sign, you're fired.
Well, for starters, that would violate child labor laws. We don't need to make something against the law when it's
already against the law. Furthermore, we have laws against extortion and blackmail. "We're changing the deal. Sign the new contract or you're fired." - That doesn't really fly in a court of law. A contract is a deal made between two willing parties, and that's why its legally binding. When one party only enters into the contract under threat of physical or economic harm, it's no longer consensual. "I've altered our deal, pray I don't alter it any further," works in the movies, it doesn't work in the American legal system.