Court Opinion

ID: 9531416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:10:40.725321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:26.408374
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion
Bobbitt, J.
I concur in the result of Judge Emmert’s opinion and with his reasoning as it pertains to the fixing of prices by contract between buyers and sellers who are parties to such contracts.
However, I do not concur in his reasoning pertain*201ing to certain provisions of Section 6 of the Fair Trade Act.
The following statement appears in Judge Emmert’s opinion:
“The General Assembly has no right to abdicate its legislative power to private persons, nor could it even delegate to a governmental agency the power to find what might be a reasonable price without proper safeguards and procedural due process.”
I do not want to be understood as concurring in, or lending any support to, the inference which must, in my opinion, necessarily be drawn from this language, that the Legislature has the power to delegate to a State Agency, Board or Commission the authority to fix the price of carpet sweepers or any other commodity of trade or commerce on the open market.
In my opinion the Legislature does not have the power to fix the price at which carpet sweepers may be sold in Indiana, and it must follow that it cannot lawfully delegate such authority to a governmental agency, even with proper “safeguards and procedural due process.” Dept. of Financial Institutions v. Holt, etc. (1952), 231 Ind. 293, 303-304, 108 N. E. 2d 629.
It is, of course, true, as stated in the opinion, that the fixing of a utility rate is a legislative act; and that the Legislature can, and does, delegate to an administrative commission the authority to fix public utility rates within the bounds of certain standards set by the Legislature. However, it does not follow that the source of such power also furnishes the authority to fix standards for, and delegate to, an administrative commission the authority to fix prices for general commodities of trade and commerce.
The Legislature derives its power to fix and regulate *202utility rates from the fact that such businesses are affected with a public interest and their property is devoted to public use. Such power is inherent in the State and is an attribute of sovereignty, having its origin in the police power.
The supervision and regulation of public utilities by the Legislature is designed to supply the missing element of competition which protects the public from excessive charges in competitive businesses. Public Service Commission v. Indiana, Bell Telephone Co. (1955), 285 Ind. 1, 130 N. E. 2d 467, 481. Such reason for supervision and regulation (price fixing) is not present where there is open competition in a business such as the manufacture and sale of carpet sweepers.
The right of an individual to engage in a lawful business and to fix the price at which he disposes of his own property is a part of his inalienable right to “liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and is guaranteed by both our State and Federal Constitutions.1
The lack of constitutional power of the Legislature to fix prices by law or delegate such power must be, in this case, distinguished from the right of the Legislature to broaden the contracting powers of individuals and corporations, thus permitting them to enter into multiple agreements to fix prices. At common law such contracts were against public policy because they were considered monopolistic and in restraint of trade. The Legislature determines the public policy of the State, and in the exercise of this power it may, by statute, modify or change the rule at common law and enlarge the scope of contractual powers of individuals and corporations.
*203I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Achor, C. J., and Arterburn, J., concur.

. See Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 127, Ind. L. J. (1957), for a comprehensive discussion of the Constitutionality of State Pair Trade Acts.