TRADE REGULATION-STATE FAIR TRADE ACTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY FEDERAL LEGISLATION

Authors

Earl R. Boonstra, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The state Fair Trade Acts and the federal Miller-Tydings Act were enacted for the avowed purpose of exempting vertical price fixing contracts from the federal and state anti-trust laws. This legislation followed several court decisions which had declared resale price maintenance agreements unlawful trade restraints. The first Fair Trade Act was enacted by California in 1931, and by 1941 all but four jurisdictions had passed similar legislation. In 1936, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the California and Illinois acts on the broadest of grounds; and while the Miller-Tydings Act has not been passed upon, its constitutionality appears certain. With a few individual state exceptions, no recent constitutional questions have been posed. The purpose of this comment is to discuss generally the application, enforcement, defenses and remedies of the various acts. The economic validity of the statutes, while certainly debatable, is not within the scope of the present discussion.

Recommended Citation

Earl R. Boonstra, TRADE REGULATION-STATE FAIR TRADE ACTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY FEDERAL LEGISLATION, 47 Mich. L. Rev. 821 (1949).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol47/iss6/9