54 Minn. 223 | Minn. | 1893
The pleadings in this case, and the affidavits read on the motion to dissolve the temporairy injunction, are so voluminous, and so abound in mere inferences as to motives and consequences, and in adjectives and other qualifying epithets, as to convey the impression, at first sight, that the facts were both complicated and controverted. But a careful analysis of the record proves that there is no real dispute as to the material facts, which are comparatively simple. Stripped of all extraneous matter, the case discloses just this state of facts: The plaintiff is a manufacturer and vendor of lumber and other building material, having a large and profitable trade at wholesale and retail in this and adjoining states, a large and valuable part of this trade being with the retail lumber dealers. The defendant the Northwestern Lumbermen’s Association is a voluntary association of retail lumber dealers, comprising from twenty-five to fifty per cent, of the retail dealers doing business in the states referred to, many of whom are, or have been, customers of the plaintiff. A “retailer,” as defined in the constitution of the association, is “any person who is engaged in retailing lumber, who carries at all times a stock of lumber adequate to the wants of the community, and who regularly maintains an office as a lumber dealer, and keeps the same open at proper times.” Any wholesale dealer or manufacturer of lumber who conforms to the rules of the association may become an honorary member, and attend its meetings, but is not allowed to vote. The object of the association is stated in its constitution to be “the protection of its members against sales by wholesale dealers and manufacturers to contractors and consumers.” The object is more fully stated, and the means by which it is to be carried into effect are fully set out, in sections 3, 3£, 4, and 6 of the by-laws, which are all that we consider material in this case. The plaintiff sold two bills of lumber directly to consumers or contractors at points where members of the association were engaged in business as retail dealers. Defendant Hollis, the secretary of the association, having been informed of this fact, notified plaintiff, in pursuance of section 3 of the by-laws, that he had a claim- against it for ten per cent, of the amount of these sales. Considerable correspondence with reference to the matter ensued, in which the plaintiff, from time to time, promised to adjust the matter, but
The case presents one phase of a subject which is likely to be one of the most important and difficult which will confront the courts during the next quarter of a century. This is the age of associations and unions, in all departments of labor and business, for purposes of mutual benefit and protection. Confined to proper limits, both as to end and means, they are not only lawful, but laudable. Carried beyond those limits, they are liable to become dangerous agencies for wrong and oppression. Beyond what limits these associations or combinations cannot go, without interfering with the legal rights of others, is the problem which, in various phases, the courts will doubtless be frequently called to. pass upon. There is, perhaps, danger that, influenced by such terms of illusive meaning as “monopolies,” “trusts,” “boycotts,” “strikes,” and the like, they may be led to transcend the limits of their jurisdiction, and, like the court of king’s bench in Bagg’s Case, 11 Coke, 98a, assume that, on general principles, they have authority to correct or reform everything which they may deem wrong, or, as Lord Ellsmere puts it, “to. manage the state.” But whatever doubts or difficulties may arise in other cases, presenting other phases of the general subject involved here, it seems to us that there can be none on the facts of the present case. Both the affidavits and brief in behalf of the plaintiff indulge in a great deal of strong, and even exaggerated, assertion, and in many words and expressions of very indefinite and illusive meaning, such as “wreck,” “coerce,” “extort,” “conspiracy,” “monopoly,” “drive out of business,”
1. The mere fact that the proposed acts of the defendants would have resulted in plaintiff’s loss of gains and profits does not, of itself, render those acts unlawful or actionable. That depends on whether the acts are, in and of themselves, unlawful. “Injury,” in its legal sense, means damage resulting from an unlawful act. Associations may be entered into, the object of which is to adopt measurés that may tend to diminish the gains and profits of another, and yet, so far from being unlawful, they may be highly meritorious. Commonwealth v. Hunt, 4 Met. (Mass.) 111; Mogul Steamship Co. v. McGregor, 21 Q. B. Div. 544.
2. If an act be lawful,—one that the party has a legal right to do,—the fact that he may be actuated by an improper motive does not render it unlawful. As said in one case, “the exercise by one man of a legal right cannot be legal wrong to another,” or, as expressed in another case, “malicious motives, make a bad case worse, but they cannot make that wrong which, in its own essence, is lawful.” Heywood v. Tillson, 75 Me. 225; Phelps v. Nowlen, 72 N. Y. 39; Jenkins v. Fowler, 24 Pa. St. 308.
3. To enable the plaintiff to maintain this action, it must appear that defendants have committed, or are about to commit, some unlawful act, which will interfere with, and injuriously affect, some of its legal rights. We- advert to this for the reason that counsel for plaintiff, devotes much space to assailing this association as one whose object is unlawful because in restraint of trade. We fail to see wherein it is subject to this' charge; but, even if it were, this would not, of itself, give plaintiff a cause of action. No case' can be found in which it was ever held that, at common law, a contract or agreement in general restraint of trade was actionable
4., What one man may lawfully do singly, two or more may law-1 fully agree to do jointly. The number who unite to do the act can-1 not change its character from lawful to unlawful. The gist of a private action for the wrongful act of many is not the combination or conspiracy, but the damage done or threatened to the plaintiff by the acts of the defendants. If the act be unlawful, the combination of many to commit it may aggravate the injury, but cannot change the character of the act. In a few cases there may be some loose remarks apparently to the contrary, but they evidently have their origin in a confused and inaccurate idea of the law of criminal conspiracy, and in failing to distinguish between an unlawful act and a criminal one. It can never be a crime to combine to commit a lawful act, hut it may be a crime for several to conspire to commit an unlawful act, which, if done by one individual alone, although unlawful, would not be criminal. Hence, the fact that the defendants associated themselves together to do the act complained of is wholly immaterial in this case. We have referred to this for the reason that counsel has laid great stress upon the fact of the combination of a large number of persons, as if that, of itself, rendered their conduct actionable. Bowen v. Matheson, 14 Allen, 499; Mogul Steamship Co. v. McGregor, 23 Q. B. Div. 598, [1892] App. Cas. 25; Parker v. Huntington, 2 Gray, 124; Wellington v. Small, 3 Cush. 145; Payne v. Western & Atlantic R. Co., 13 Lea, 507.
5. With these propositions in mind, which bring the case down to a very small compass, we come to another proposition, which is entirely decisive of the case. It is perfectly lawful for any man1 (unless under contract obligation, or unless his employment charges him with some public duty) to refuse to work for or to deal with any man or class of men, as he sees fit. This doctrine is founded!
Order reversed, and injunction dissolved.