Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 (1918), also known as the Selective Draft Law Cases, was a series of United States Supreme Court decisions united under the Arver name which upheld the Selective Service Act of 1917, and more generally upheld conscription in the United States. The Supreme Court held that conscription did not violate the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition of involuntary servitude or the First Amendment's protection of freedom of conscience.
The Solicitor General's argument and the court's opinion were based primarily on Kneedler v. Lane, which was actually multiple opinions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania during the American Civil War that upheld the Enrollment Act, as well as Vattel's The Law of Nations (1758). The Court's reliance on the Kneedler v. Lane decisions has been questioned on multiple occasions.
As reasoning for its decision, laws of the following governments of sovereign states were given as listed in The Statesman's Yearbook for 1917 as enforcing military service:
Argentina Austria-Hungary Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Bolivia CanadaMilitary Service Act of August 27, 1917, expressly providing for service abroad. Printed in the Congressional Record of September 20, 1917, 55th Cong. Rec., p. 7959 Colombia Chile China Denmark Ecuador El Salvador France, July 15, 1889 (Duvergier, vol. 89, p. 440), modified by act of March 21, 1905 (Duvergier, vol. 105, p. 133) Greece GermanyConstitution, German Empire, April 16, 1871, Art. 57, 59, No. 1767, , p. 11, amended by law of July 22, 1913, No. 4264, , p. 593 Guatemala Honduras Italy Japan Mexico Montenegro Netherlands Nicaragua Norway Peru Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Siam Spain Switzerland Turkey
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