In the United States, we often take for granted the immense power our employers have over us. Consider, for instance, the fact that your boss could fire you tomorrow for absolutely no reason. Didn’t get a hearing to defend yourself? What about an opportunity to come up with a plan to improve your job performance? Doesn’t matter — for most workers in the United States, none of that is required. Your boss isn’t even legally required to explain why you’ve been let go.

This near-total lack of protection from unfair firings has a name: the at-will employment doctrine. This doctrine doesn’t come from some old dusty law on the books that voters could mobilize around. Instead, the rule that governs the most important economic relationship of our lives comes from a nineteenth-century lawyer who lied.

The short version of the story: in his 1877 treatise called “Master and Servant,” lawyer Horace Wood gave four examples that prove that bosses legitimately can fire workers for no reason. Those examples, as it turns out, were made up. But no matter. Judges across the country used his reasoning, and to this day, the at-will doctrine remains precedent.