Clayton Act

“ Reaching the conclusion, as we do, that complainant has a clear right to an injunction under the Sherman Act as amended by the Clayton Act, it becomes unnecessary to consider whether a like result would follow under the common law or local statutes; there being no suggestion that relief thereunder could be broader than that to which complainant is entitled under the acts of Congress. ”

“ If labor unions are not excepted from the Act, and they have acted outside the legitimate field contemplated by the Clayton Act, the impartial enforcement of the law would seem to require that the same doctrine be applied to them. In that view, the purpose of respondents to promote the interests of labor organization cannot be deemed to justify the direct and intentional restraint they imposed upon interstate commerce. The opinion of the Court does not appear to hold otherwise. ”

“ When the Clayton Act was before the Senate, Senator Culberson, Chairman of the Committee which reported the bill, enumerated the usual types of action prosecuted under the Sherman Act,-criminal prosecutions, suits in equity, and actions for damages, and stated with respect to Government suits under the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act: 'There is no suit authorized by any of these statutes except a criminal prosecution or a suit in equity. ”

“ Defendants' first and principal contention is that the restraining order and preliminary injunction were issued in violation of the Clayton and Norris-LaGuardia Acts. We have come to a contrary decision.
It is true that Congress decreed in § 20 of the Clayton Act that 'no such restraining order or injunction shall prohibit any person or persons * * * from recommending, advising, or persuading others * * *' to strike. ”

“ The Clayton Act gave rise to new litigation and to renewed controversy in and out of Congress regarding the status of trade unions. By the generality of its terms the Sherman Law had necessarily compelled the courts to work out its meaning from case to case. It was widely believed that into the Clayton Act courts read the very beliefs which that Act was designed to remove. Specifically the courts restricted the scope of § 20 to trade union activities directed against an employer by his own employees. ”

“ Here, by the terms of § 16 of the Clayton Act, as well as the principles generally governing equitable relief in the federal courts, the State, in order to secure the aid of equity, must show injury caused or threatened by the alleged unlawful acts of which it complains. Since the wrongful acts relied upon are a conspiracy to adopt and maintain unjust, unlawful, excessive or discriminatory freight rates, the only threatened injury to the State or its inhabitants, resulting from the conspiracy, is that which is or may be caused by such unlawful rates. ”

“ Under Gulf Offshore, legislative silence counsels, if not compels, us to enforce the presumption of concurrent jurisdiction. In short, in both Sedima and Agency Holding we looked to the Clayton Act in interpreting RICO without the benefit of a background juridical presumption of the type present in this case. Thus, to whatever extent the Clayton Act analogy may be relevant to our interpretation of RICO generally, it has no place in our inquiry into the jurisdiction of state courts. ”

“ In proceedings under the Federal Trade Commission Act, where a Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States has by decree commanded obedience to the Commission's order, enforcement may be accomplished by way of contempt proceedings in the Circuit Court. With respect to orders under the various provisions of the Clayton Act, enforcement must be accomplished by way of contempt proceedings. ”

“ Section 2 (a) of the Clayton Act, as amended, prohibits only discriminations whose 'effect * * * may be substantially to lessen competition * * * in any line of commerce, or to injure, destroy, or prevent competition with any person who either grants or knowingly receives the benefit of such discrimination, or with customers of either of them * * *.' Petitioners insist that the Commission's findings, based upon the facts stipulated, do not support its conclusion that petitioners' discriminations have the prescribed effect. ”

“ However, the legislative history of these amendments leaves no doubt that Congress was intent upon strengthening the Clayton Act provisions, not weakening them, and that it was no part of Congress' purpose to curtail the pre-existing applicability of § 2 (a) to price discriminations affecting primary-line competition. [8]
The federal courts, both before and after the amendment of § 2 (a) , have taken this view of the scope of the statute in cases involving impairment of primary-line competition. See Porto Rican American Tobacco Co. ”

“ The Clayton Act, as its title and the history of its enactment discloses, was intended to supplement the purpose and effect of other anti-trust legislation, principally the Sherman Act of 1890 (Comp. St. §§ 8820-8823, 8827-8830) . ”

“ True, the Anti-Trust Laws, since the enactment of the Clayton Act, have been explicit in providing that any one injured by an unlawful combination might have relief by injunction against threatened damage to his business. ”

“ Events in the course of the proposed legislation in the Senate and House have pertinence. The Senate inserted the original ineffective language of the Clayton Act in its exact form in the Senate bill. In the same draft it adopted an amendment similar to the proviso ultimately enacted. 80 Cong.Rec. 6426, 6435. In the House, Representative Patman explained his view of the dangers in the original proviso. ”

“ If a sufferer from the discriminatory acts of carriers by rail or by water may sue for an injunction under the Clayton Act without resort in the first instance to the regulatory commission, the unity of the system of regulation breaks down beyond repair. ”

“ Such of the legislative history as is germane here argues against the petitioners and strengthens our conclusions that the 'usages * * * now prevailing' clause of § 24 of the Clayton Act did no more than emphasize that contempts other than those specified in § 21 were to be tried under familiar contempt procedures, that is, among other things, by the court rather than a jury. ”

“ It is said, however, that the amendment in question may not be made since the cause of action authorized by § 4 of the Clayton Act may be brought only in a District Court in the district 'in which the defendant resides or is found or has an agent.' 15 U.S.C. § 15, 15 U.S.C.A. § 15. That requirement relates to venue. But venue involves no more and no less than a personal privilege which 'may be lost by failure to assert it seasonably, by formal submission in a cause, or by submission through conduct.' Neirbo Co. ”

“ In the first place, the equality clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply to congressional, but only to state, action. In the second place, section 20 of the Clayton Act never has been construed or applied as the Supreme Court of Arizona has construed and applied paragraph 1464 in this case. ”

“ There is quite a difference between proving a violation of the Clayton Act and a failure to obey a specific order of the Commission. Long, tedious, and costly investigation, proof of injury to competition as well as other affirmative requirements necessary to the issuance of an order and many defenses such as cost justification, meeting competition, exclusive dealing, etc., are all avoided. Particularly in merger cases would the enforcement of prior orders be simplified and expedited. ”

“ It should be noted that § 1 of the Clayton Act again defined the term 'person' exactly as it was defined by § 8 of the Sherman Act, and § 4 again enacted that any person injured by a violation might recover treble damages together with a reasonable attorney's fee. ”

“ It is thus probable that members of the local unions were looking forward to employment when complainant should resume full operation and even though they were not ex-employees within the Clayton Act, they were directly interested in the wages which were to be paid.
Is interference of a labor organization by persuasion and appeal to induce a strike against low wages, under such circumstances without lawful excuse and malicious? We think not. Labor unions are recognized by the Clayton Act as legal when instituted for mutual help and lawfully carrying out their legitimate objects. ”

“ Likewise, in Agency Holding we were concerned with "borrowing," in light of legislative silence on the issue, an appropriate statute of limitations period from an "analogous" statute. 483 U.S., at 146, 107 S.Ct., at 2762. Under such circumstances, we found it appropriate to borrow the statute of limitations from the Clayton Act. Id., at 152, 107 S.Ct., at 2765. In this case, by contrast, where the issue is whether jurisdiction is exclusive or concurrent, we are not free to add content to a statute via analogies to other statutes unless the legislature has specifically endorsed such action. ”

“ Illinois Brick was concerned that requiring direct and indirect purchasers to apportion the recovery under a single statute-§ 4 of the Clayton Act-would result in no one plaintiff having a sufficient incentive to sue under that statute. State indirect purchaser statutes pose no similar risk to the enforcement of the federal law. ”

“ In frequent instances it was sufficient to call the attention of the lessee to the fact that they were contained in the lease to insure a compliance with their provisions. The power to enforce them is omnipresent, and their restraining influence constantly operates upon competitors and lessees. The fact that the lessor in many instances forbore to enforce these provisions does not make them any less agreements within the condemnation of the Clayton Act. ”

“ It was to be done by expressly legalizing certain acts regardless of the effects produced by them upon other persons. As to them Congress was to extract the element of injuria from the damages thereby inflicted, instead of leaving judges to determine according to their own economic and social views whether the damage inflicted on an employer in an industrial struggle was damnum absque injuria, because an incident of trade competition, or a legal injury, because in their opinion, economically and socially objectionable. This idea was presented to the committees which reported the Clayton Act. ”