Opinion ID: 2094578
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND THE McGUIRE ACT

Text: The defendant in the proceedings in the Superior Court, Chancery Division, and on the appeal to this court has contended that the McGuire Act, P.L. 542, 82 nd Congress, 2 nd Session, c. 745 ( July 14, 1952), constitutes an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of the power to fix prices and an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of its power to regulate interstate commerce. United States Constitution, Art. I, sec. 8. In General Electric Company v. Packard Bamberger & Co., Inc., supra , we recently held that the McGuire Act was effective to permit application of the New Jersey Fair Trade Act to interstate commerce. The conclusions expressed in our opinion in the General Electric Company case, supra, are pertinent here although constitutionality of the McGuire Act was not directly resolved therein. Succinctly, we determine that the McGuire Act is not a delegation of power either to fix prices or to regulate interstate commerce, but is a declaration of consent by Congress that the nonsigner provisions of otherwise valid state fair trade statutes shall operate on commodities traveling in interstate commerce. The keystone of our decision in the General Electric Company case, supra, was In re Rahrer ( Wilkerson v. Rahrer ) 140 U.S. 545, 11 S.Ct. 865, 35 L.Ed. 572, 575 (1891). That case and the other authorities discussed in our decision in the General Electric Company case, supra, control our decision here. Pennekamp v. State of Florida, supra . The defendant also asserts that the New Jersey Fair Trade Act constitutes an unlawful burden on interstate commerce. Under the decisions above adverted to this argument is without merit.