ANTI-CHAIN STORE LEGISLATION

Authors

Hugh A. Fulton, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

During the past few years chain store merchandising has made such serious inroads upon the trade of independent wholesale and retail merchants that they have been forced to use every expedient within their reach in order to survive. They have banded together in order to achieve the economies which have made chain store merchandising so successful and have been rewarded with a large measure of success and even with the hope of competing on an equal basis with the average chain system. But they have not been satisfied with merely seeking to operate on a smaller margin of profit. They have sought to influence public opinion in their favor by stressing such matters as their independence, their devotion to the home town, and the size and presumed greed of the huge corporations engaged in chain store merchandising. All these activities have helped, but they have not been sufficient to satisfy the independents. The independents have sought to use their greater numbers and relatively larger political influence to secure the passage of laws to aid them and to harass the chain store organizations. One of the most serious obstacles to obtaining such legislation has been the fear that it would be held to be unconstitutional as in contravention of the uniformity clauses of the state constitutions and of the equal protection and due process clauses of the federal Constitution.

Recommended Citation

Hugh A. Fulton, ANTI-CHAIN STORE LEGISLATION, 30 Mich. L. Rev. 274 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol30/iss2/7