REGULATION OF BUSINESS-RESALE PRICE MAINTENANCE-CONSTITUTIONALITY OF NON-SIGNER PROVION IN MICHIGAN FAIR TRADE ACT

Authors

Richard D. Rohr S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, a manufacturer of trade-marked products, brought a bill to restrain defendant-retailer from selling plaintiff's products at prices below the minimum prices established by plaintiff in contracts made pursuant to the Michigan Fair Trade Act. Defendant admitted such sales; but contended that because it had not signed a fair trade agreement with plaintiff, enforcement of the Michigan act against defendant would violate its rights under the due process clause of the state constitution. The trial court, treating the transactions involved as being exclusively in intrastate commerce, held the Michigan Fair Trade Act, as applied to non-signers of fair trade agreements, unconstitutional as a deprivation of property without due process of law. On appeal, held, affirmed. The non-signer provision in the Michigan Fair Trade Act is beyond the scope of the state police power inasmuch as it bears no reasonable relation to public morals, health, safety or the general welfare. Justices Butzel and Reid dissented as to this ground for decision. Shakespeare Co. v. Lippman's Tool Shop Sporting Goods Co., 334 Mich. 109, 54 N.W. (2d) 268 (1952).

Recommended Citation

Richard D. Rohr S.Ed., REGULATION OF BUSINESS-RESALE PRICE MAINTENANCE-CONSTITUTIONALITY OF NON-SIGNER PROVION IN MICHIGAN FAIR TRADE ACT, 51 Mich. L. Rev. 452 (1953).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol51/iss3/17