by George Howard Earle, Jr.

“ Where acts are not sufficient in themselves to produce a result which the law seeks to prevent—for instance, the monopoly—but require further acts in addition to the mere forces of Nature to bring that result to pass, an intent to bring it to pass is necessary in order to produce a dangerous probability that it will happen. ”

“ To constitute an offence within the Act there must have been either the intent to commit the offence, or to commit acts, or acquire power tending to it; but "power" alone does not constitute the offence. ”

“ When the acts consist of making a combination calculated to cause temporal damage, the power to punish such acts, when done maliciously, cannot be denied because they are to be followed and worked out by conduct which might have been lawful if not preceded by the acts. No conduct has such an absolute privilege as to justify all possible schemes of which it may be a part. ”

“ The Knight case so strongly demonstrates the danger of holding that power alone does constitute tendency or the consequent illegality, that nothing more need be said on that subject; but that those who intentionally conspire to restrain national trade are within the Act is plain, though none of their acts without such intent would have amounted to tendency. He who does, with intent of accomplishing a given result, is certainly estopped from denying that what he did tended to that which he intended that it should tend to. ”

“ Commanding, procuring, or inciting to a murder cannot have any 'legal consequences,' the act of compliance or obedience being a crime; but no one has suggested, on this ground, any doubt that procurement is also a crime. ”