50 F. 469 | D. Mass. | 1892
This is an indictment undér the second section of the act of congress approved July 2, 1890, entitled “An act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.” 26 St. p. 209. The indictment sets forth that the defendants are the officers of the Distilling and Cattle Feeding Company, a corporation chartered by the laws of the state of Illinois, and having its principal place of business in Peoria, in that state; that, as such officers, they purchased or leased seventy-eight theretofore competing distilleries within the United States; and, within certain dates specified, used, managed, controlled, and operated said distilleries, and manufactured sixty-six million gallons of distilled spirits, and sold the product within the United States, part of it in the district of Massachusetts, at prices
The second section of the act is as follows:
“Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.”
An indictment framed under this section should contain a distinct averment in the wordg of the statute, or in equivalent language, that, by means of the acts charged, the defendants had monopolized, or had combined or conspired to monopolize, trade and commerce among the several states or with foreign nations. This indictment contains no such averment. It does not charge that the defendants entered into any unlawful combination or conspiracy. Nor does it contain any averment that they had monopolized trade or commerce among the several states
Other questions presented upon this indictment were argued by counsel, and among them the important questions whether the acts charged constitute an unlawful monopoly, within the meaning of the statute; and, if they do, whether congress has the constitutional authority to declare such acts to be unlawful and criminal, and whether the things charged against the defendants were not rather the doings of the corporation than of its officers. In regard to these questions it is only necessary to remark that they seem to be of such a character as to require that they should not ho decided finally against the government by the trial court, but should be reserved for the determination of the appellate court, when presented upon an indictment not otherwise insufficient in law. Indictment quashed. Judgment for the defendants.