Opinion ID: 2094578
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE NEW JERSEY FAIR TRADE ACT, R.S. 56:4-3 et seq.

Text: The Fair Trade Act is asserted by the defendant to violate the State and Federal Constitutions upon three grounds. The first two of these are: (a) that the Fair Trade Act constitutes a deprivation of property of the defendant without due process of law or a denial of equal protection of the law, in contravention of the 14 th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and also of N.J. Const. 1947, Art. I, pars. 1, 5, and ( b ) that the Fair Trade Act constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative power, see N.J. Const. 1947, Art. IV, Sec. I, par. 1, and in this respect also violative of the due process clause of the 14 th Amendment, supra. The third ground of constitutional attack, that the act creates an unlawful burden upon interstate commerce and therefore violates Art. I, sec. 8, of the United States Constitution, will be adverted to in our conclusion, post, concerning the McGuire Act. This appeal is the first occasion on which an appeal to this court has expressly raised the question of constitutionality of the Fair Trade Act in relation to due process of law, equal protection of the law and delegation of legislative power, although we have heretofore observed in the course of detailing the historical development of fair trade that the former Court of Errors and Appeals in Johnson & Johnson v. Weissbard, 121 N.J. Eq. 585, 587 ( E. & A. 1937), expressly followed the Old Dearborn case, supra, in this respect. See General Electric Co. v. Packard Bamberger & Co., 14 N.J. 209, 215 (1953); Johnson & Johnson v. Charmley Drug Co., 11 N.J. 526, 536 (1953). We find no basis pertinent to the resolution of the constitutional questions involved upon which to differentiate the Illinois statute considered in the Old Dearborn case, supra, from the New Jersey Fair Trade Act. To overrule the decision of the former Court of Errors and Appeals in Johnson & Johnson v. Weissbard, supra , would require a declaration that we are no longer bound by the Old Dearborn case, supra. It is our conclusion that the Old Dearborn case, supra, has not been overruled by the United States Supreme Court and is dispositive here. Under the circumstances of this case the application of the New Jersey constitutional provisions is governed by the construction and application accorded the 14th Amendment. As we have heretofore stated, these questions were directly considered and disposed of with a declaration of constitutionality in the Old Dearborn case, supra, and we are bound by that decision of the United States Supreme Court until it is overruled by the United States Supreme Court. In Pennekamp v. State of Florida, 328 U.S. 331, 335, 66 S.Ct. 1029, 1031, 90 L.Ed. 1295, 1297 (1945), the United States Supreme Court expressly declared: The Constitution has imposed upon this Court final authority to determine the meaning and application of those words of that instrument which require interpretation to resolve judicial issues.    The decision of the United States Supreme Court in Schwegmann Bros. v. Calvert Distillers Corp., 341 U.S. 384, 71 S.Ct. 745, 95 L.Ed. 1035 (1951) did not reach the issue of constitutionality of the nonsigner clause of the fair trade acts under the 14 th Amendment, but was concerned only with interpretation of the federal anti-trust laws and the application of the nonsigner clauses of state fair trade acts to interstate commerce. Contrary to the argument asserted by the defendant, we cannot assume that the United States Supreme Court would overrule the Old Dearborn case, supra, if the opportunity to do so should be presented to that tribunal. Such an assumption, even if it were open to us, would be unrealistic in view of the United States Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in Schwegmann Bros. Giant Super Market v. Eli Lilly & Co., 205 F. 2 d 788 ( C.C.A. 5 1953), certiorari denied 346 U.S. 856, 74 S.Ct. 71, 98 L.Ed. ___, rehearing denied 346 U.S. 905, 74 S.Ct. 217, 98 L.Ed. ___ (1953).