Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/93011/united-states-vs-colgate-co
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:52:22+00:00

Document:
On a writ of error under the Criminal Appeals Act, this Court must confine itself, to the question of the construction of the statute involved in the decision of the district court, accepting that court's interpretation of the indictment. P. 250 U. S. 301 .
In the absence of any intent to create or maintain a monopoly, the Sherman Act doe not prevent a manufacturer engaged in a private business from announcing in advance the prices at which his good may be resold and refusing to deal with wholesaler and retailers who do not conform to such price. P. 250 U. S. 307 .
As the court interpret the district court's opinion, the indictment in this case was interpreted as not charging the defendant with selling to dealers under agreements obligating them not to resell at prices other than those fixed by defendant. P. 250 U. S. 306 . Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. Park & Sons Co., 220 U. S. 373 , distinguished.
United States v. Carter, 231 U. S. 492 , 231 U. S. 493 ; United States v. Miller, 223 U. S. 599 , 223 U. S. 602 .
declines to sell his products to those who will not thus stipulate as to prices. This, at the threshold, presents for the determination of the court how far one may control and dispose of his own property -- that is to say, whether there is any limitation thereon if he proceeds in respect thereto in a lawful and bona fide manner. That he may not do so, fraudulently, collusively, and in unlawful combination with others may be conceded. Eastern States Retail Lumber Dealers' Association v. United States, 234 U. S. 600 , 234 U. S. 614 . But it by no means follows that, being a manufacturer of a given article, he may not, without incurring any criminal liability, refuse absolutely to sell the same at any price, or to sell at a named sum to a customer with the understanding that such customer will resell only at an agreed price between them, and, should the customer not observe the understanding as to retail prices, exercise his undoubted right to decline further to deal with such person."
Our problem is to ascertain as accurately as may be what interpretation the trial court placed upon the indictment -- not to interpret it ourselves, and then to determine whether, so construed, it fairly charges violation of the Sherman Act. Counsel for the government maintain in effect that, as so interpreted, the indictment adequately charges an unlawful combination (within the doctrine of Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. Park & Sons Co., 220 U. S. 373 ) resulting from restrictive agreements between defendant and sundry dealers whereby the latter obligated themselves not to resell except at agreed prices, and to support this position, they specifically rely upon the above-quoted sentence in the opinion which begins, "In the view taken by the court," etc. On the other hand, defendant maintains that, looking at the whole opinion, it plainly construes the indictment as alleging only recognition of the manufacturer's undoubted right to specify resale prices and refuse to deal with any one who failed to maintain the same.
The purpose of the Sherman Act is to prohibit monopolies, contracts, and combinations which probably would unduly interfere with the free exercise of their rights by those engaged, or who wish to engage, in trade and commerce -- in a word, to preserve the right of freedom to trade. In the absence of any purpose to create or maintain a monopoly, the act does not restrict the long recognized right of trader or manufacturer engaged in an entirely private business freely to exercise his own independent discretion as to parties with whom he will deal, and, of course, he may announce in advance the circumstances under which he will refuse to sell. "The trader or manufacturer, on the other hand, carries on an entirely private business, and can sell to whom he pleases." United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association, 166 U. S. 290 , 166 U. S. 320 .

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