Historical and Philosophical Sources of the American Antitrust Laws

Abstract

While government concern with monopolistic behavior has a respectable history, going back to the Codex Iustiniani,¹ we feel justified in viewing the historical development of the American antitrust laws only as it evolved through the English common law courts down to the present-day situation. In so doing we can divide this historical evolution into four periods:

• (1) The period beginning with the Anglo-Saxon Common Law of the Middle Ages, which is part of the American legal heritage, through the years of American Independence down to the Sherman Act of 1890;²

• (2) The period beginning with the Sherman Act of 1890 down to the Report of the Attorney General’s National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws of 1955;

• (3) The Report of the Attorney General’s National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws, March 31, 1955;

• (4) The period after 1955.