An absorbing account of the original legislation and early court decisions on this major antitrust law.

Publisher Comments

Category: Law This title is part of the Legal History list. Of Interest: Cartels: Challenge to a Free World The Bottlenecks of Business The Folklore of Capitalism

This history of the birth of the most famous antitrust statute of all is set forth in great detail and will be of great interest to lawyers and students of antitrust history. Emanating as a bill in 1889 from one of the most powerful men in Congress, John Sherman, a more elaborate and comprehensive bill drawn by another senator actually was the one enacted in 1890. However, because Sherman was the originator and the leading advocate, the law has always carried his name with it. Four months of Senate consideration provide valuable guides to congressional intent behind the law. The law's history is examined as interpreted by the courts through a number of presidential administrations through 1910.

From the back cover blurb:

At the end of the nineteenth century, prophetic statesmen could foresee that unless checked by law, personal acquirement and wealth would fall into the hands of a small minority of men. In 1899, Senator John Sherman introduced "A bill to declare unlawful, trusts and combinations in restraint of trade and production." While a substitute bill by another Senator actually was the law that was finally enacted, Senator Sherman as the prime move and advocate led to the statute always referred to as the Sherman Act. Such a law has been called the Magna Carta of the statutes of the United States. Thus, antitrust law was born. This book reveals the debate in Congress and the early judicial treatment of the law. It will prove fascinating reading for all antitrust attorneys as well as for students of legal or economic history.

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Albert H. Walker was a member of the New York Bar Association and practiced in New York City.

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