Local 1445, United Food and Commercial Workers Union v. Police Chief

Some 350 years of history of Sunday laws in Massachusetts chronicle, depending on the point of view, their liberalization or erosion. The plaintiffs, Local 1445, United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Massachusetts Council of Churches, apparently, apprehend erosion. They brought an action to enjoin Filene’s from opening its store in the Natick Mall before noon on the first four Sundays of December, 1989, although Filene’s had obtained a permit so to do issued in accordance with G. L. c. 136, § 7, by the police chief of Natick. December, 1989, has come and gone, and the controversy,…