CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-DUE PROCESS -FAIR TRADE ACTS

Authors

Milton Rabinowitz, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The New York "Fair Trade Act" proclaims price maintenance agreements subservient to the public policy of the state, and renders price cutting by any merchant with knowledge of such an agreement, even though not a party thereto, actionable as unfair competition at the suit of anyone injured thereby. In Doubleday, Doran & Co. v. Macy & Co., the New York court had condemned the enactment as violating the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court, in Old Dearborn Distributing Co. v. Seagram-Distiller Corp., decided the contrary as to the validity of a similar Illinois statute. Thereafter, defendant was sued by a manufacturer who asserted a violation of the Fair Trade Act by the former. Defendant's demurrer on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional was sustained by the trial court on the authority of the Doubleday case. However, on appeal it was held, that the Seagram case necessitated overruling the previous New York decision, and that the lower court's ruling must therefore be reversed. Bourjois Sales Corp. v. Dorfman, 273 N. Y. 167, 7 N. E. (2d) 30 (1937).

Recommended Citation

Milton Rabinowitz, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-DUE PROCESS -FAIR TRADE ACTS, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 1368 (1937).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss8/12