Trade Regulation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (II)

Abstract

This field of law, not previously treated independently in the annual survey, is designated as Trade Regulation or alternatively as Government or Public Control of Business. In the limit, this body of doctrine is an amalgam of tort and contract principles bearing the impress of the equity practice. These distinct principles are now embodied in both state and federal statutes as the foundations of legal control over competitive commercial conduct. Their scope extends, with different emphasis, from public utility rate regulation to a variety of aspects of market structure and conduct in the unregulated sector of the economy. The principal stuff of which its lawsuits are made includes pricing practices (price-fixing or discriminatory pricing) and other forms of collusive behavior, exclusive dealing arrangements, tying arrangements, mergers, trademark protection,and unfair competition. The decided cases within the period of this survey touch only a few of these topics.