JWTruth.orgDocumented comparison resource
Search

Blood doctrine · Claim record

Prince v. Massachusetts (1944), often cited in transfusion cases, concerned child labour and literature distribution, not medical treatment; its statement that parents are not free 'to make martyrs of their children' is at 321 U.S. 170.

Claim ID claim-blood-case-princeConcerns 31 January 1944Context
Context · 31 January 1944 Verified

Prince v. Massachusetts (1944), often cited in transfusion cases, concerned child labour and literature distribution, not medical treatment; its statement that parents are not free 'to make martyrs of their children' is at 321 U.S. 170. Supreme Court of the United States, 31 January 1944

Show the evidence (1 source)
Official public record Verified

Supreme Court of the United States, “Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944)”

31 January 1944 · pp.321 U.S. at 170 · Rutledge J. · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

“Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children before they have reached the age of full and legal discretion when they can make that choice for themselves.”

A child-labour / street literature distribution case involving a Witness aunt and her nine-year-old ward — not a transfusion case, though often cited in transfusion litigation.

Official source Archived or alternative copy

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Quotation confirmed at Cornell LII; the page pin (321 U.S. at 170) is from the U.S. Reports citation and is not visible on the page opened.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-scotus-1944-prince

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-blood-case-prince/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.