Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/316/159/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:02:32+00:00

Document:
A State is a "person" within the meaning of § 7 of the Sherman Act, and entitled thereby to sue for treble damages when, as a purchaser of asphalt, it is injured by a combination suppressing competition and fixing prices of that commodity in interstate commerce. United States v. Cooper Corp., 312 U. S. 600, distinguished. P. 162.
Certiorari, 315 U.S. 792, to review the affirmance of a judgment dismissing an action for treble damages under § 7 of the Sherman Act.
"Any person who shall be injured in his business or property by any other person or corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared to be unlawful by this act may sue therefor in any district court of the United States . . . and shall recover threefold the damages by him sustained. . . ."
"the word 'person,' or 'persons,' wherever used in this act shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under the authorized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any of the Territories, the laws of any State, or the laws of any foreign country."
The District Court dismissed the suit on the ground that the State of Georgia is not a "person" under § 7 of the Act. Deeming the question controlled by United States v. Cooper Corp., 312 U. S. 600, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment. 123 F.2d 57. The importance of the question in the enforcement of the Sherman Law is attested by the fact that thirty-four states, as friends of the Court, supported Georgia's request that the decision be reviewed on certiorari. And so we brought the case here. 315 U.S. 792.
"whether, by the use of the phrase 'any person,' Congress intended to confer upon the United States the right to maintain an action for treble damages against a violator of the Act."
"there is no hard and fast rule of exclusion. The purpose, the subject matter, the context, the legislative history, and the executive interpretation of the statute are aids to construction which may indicate an intent, by the use of the term, to bring state or nation within the scope of the law."
provided for it, the remedy of treble damages -- the only remedy originally given to victims other than the Government of practices proscribed by the Act.
The considerations which led to this construction are entirely lacking here. The State of Georgia, unlike the United States, cannot prosecute violations of the Sherman Law. [Footnote 1] Nor can it seize property transported in defiance of it. And an amendment was necessary to permit suit for an injunction by others than the United States. See Minnesota v. Northern Securities Co., 194 U. S. 48, 194 U. S. 70-71, and Act of October 15, 1914, c. 323, § 16, 38 Stat. 730, 737. If the State is not a "person" within § 8, the Sherman Law leaves it without any redress for injuries resulting from practices outlawed by that Act.
In 1914, Congress rejected an amendment to authorize the Attorney General of any State to institute a criminal proceeding, in the name of the United States, to enforce the antitrust laws. 51 Cong.Rec. 14519, 14527.
We put to one side the suggestion that, if the Sherman Law gives a State a right of action, Article III of the Constitution would give this Court original jurisdiction of such a suit if a State saw fit to pursue its remedy here. If the district courts are given jurisdiction, a State may bring suit there even though under Article III suit might be brought here. United States v. California, 297 U. S. 175, 297 U. S. 187.
"shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any of the Territories, the laws of any State, of the laws of any foreign country."
States is to be deemed a corporation organized under its own laws.
It is not our function to speculate as to what Congress probably intended by the words it used or to enforce the supposed policy of the Act by adding a provision which Congress might have incorporated but omitted.

References: § 7
 v. 
 § 7
 § 7
 v. 
 v. 
 § 16
 § 8
 v.