“ The theory of the Government is that the petitioner was guilty of an evasion of the price limitations set forth in this particular regulation if it required the purchase of chicken feet and skin as a necessary condition to obtaining the primary commodity, the poultry. This practice is commonly known as a 'combination sale' or a 'tying agreement.' It is argued that the petitioner thereby received for the poultry the ceiling price plus the price of the secondary commodities, the chicken parts. ”

“ While the butchers paid in addition to the ceiling price charged for the turkeys the price charged for the chicken skins and feet, they did so only because they understood that unless they bought these unwanted items they could get no turkeys. Only one of the butchers sold all the chicken skins to his customers. He explained that he operated his store in a poor neighborhood where the food shortage had become so acute that people were willing to buy anything they could get. ”

“ Congress had made it a crime to sell food above these ceiling prices. When Thanksgiving Day approached there were not enough turkeys to supply the demand of the many American families who wanted to celebrate in the customary style.
The information filed in the district court charged that the petitioner 'unlawfully, wilfully and knowingly evaded the provisions of * * *' Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 269, § 1429.5, by compelling and requiring the buyer to purchase chicken feet, chicken skin, or gizzards at a specified price, as a condition of the sale of poultry to them. ”

“ First, chicken gizzards, chicken skin, or chicken feet are not wholly worthless articles. There is demand for them and they have a value. Second, they were tied-in with sales to retailers who constitute the market for chicken gizzards, chicken skin, and chicken feet. If in fact that had no value on that market evasion of price ceilings would be established. But since they apparently had some value on the retail market, no violation of price ceilings occurred unless the price charged for them in fact exceeded that market value. ”

“ Had people who wanted and needed bacon, at the time when bacon was almost impossible to purchase, been required to buy dog hoofs and hog skins with each purchase of a pound of bacon, I think the sellers would have violated the law. If the wholesaler can require the retailer to purchase unwanted items the retailer can force the ordinary consumer to do the same thing. A restaurant could then force its customers to purchase used kitchen fats along with their meals. ”

“ As appears from a combined reading of Sections 205 (b) , 4 (a) and 2 (a) , criminal liability attaches to any one who willfully sells commodities in violation of a regulation or order of the Price Administrator establishing maximum prices. [4] Cf. United States v. Eaton, 144 U.S. 677, 12 S.Ct. 764, 36 L.Ed. 591. Recognizing that sales at above-ceiling prices may be accomplished by devious as well as by direct means, Congress in Section 2 (g) authorized the Administrator to make provisions against circumvention and evasion of maximum prices. ”

“ The dividing line between unlawful evasion and lawful action cannot be left to conjecture. The elements of evasive conduct should be so clearly expressed by the Administrator that the ordinary person can know in advance how to avoid an unlawful course of action. ”

“ The Government's case rested primarily upon the testimony of seven retail butchers who had purchased poultry and poultry parts from petitioner during the period in question. Only one of them testified explicitly that the sale of poultry to him had been conditioned upon the sale of poultry parts which he did not want and for which there was no consumer demand. His testimony, however, was disbelieved by the jury since it acquitted the petitioner on the two counts involving sales to him. ”

“ In other words, the Administrator's provisions must be explicit and unambiguous in order to sustain a criminal prosecution; they must adequately inform those who are subject to their terms what conduct will be considered evasive so as to bring the criminal penalties of the Act into operation. ”

“ And in the clothing regulation, the Administrator has provided that 'No manufacturer shall make a sale of garments which is conditioned directly or indirectly on the purchase of any other commodity or service.' Section 15, Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. ”

“ A purchaser may not be required to buy a combination of commodities if he was not required to do so during the base period, because such an arrangement is a tying agreement which results in the seller receiving a larger consideration for his commodity than he charged during the base period.
' (b) As to regulations other thna base period freeze regulations: OPA has also consistently held that any arrangement by which a seller conditions the sale of a commodity in any manner upon the purchase by the buyer of any other commodity is a tying agreement, and constitutes a violation. ”

“ Congress has warned the public to look to that source alone to discover what conduct is evasive and hence likely to create criminal liability. United States v. Resnick, 299 U.S. 207, 57 S.Ct. 126, 81 L.Ed. ”