History
As far back as 1415, English common law had already been "old and settled" that restraints on trade were unenforceable. That ban remained unchanged until 1621, when a restriction that was limited to a specific geographic location was found to be an enforceable exception to the previously absolute rule. Almost a hundred years later, the exception became the rule with the 1711 watershed case of Mitchel v. Reynolds which established the modern framework for the analysis of the enforceability of non-compete agreements.
Read more about this topic: Non-compete Clause
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)