Popular Law-making: A study of the origin, history, and present tendencies of law-making by statuteStimson, Frederic Jesup
History
Popular Law-making: A study of the origin, history, and present tendencies of law-making by statute
Stimson, Frederic Jesup
Legislation -- United States
hermeneutics, it might be argued to repeal the whole _criminal_ common
law of restraint of trade--doubtless the last thing they intended to
do!
As this is a book upon actual legislation, it would be out of place
to attempt a serious discussion of the problem that lies before us.
Suffice it to say that there are three possible methods of approaching
the question, as it is complicated with the interstate commerce power
of the Federal government. That is to say, either to surrender this
power to the States, at least so far as it may be necessary to enable
them to regulate or prohibit the actions of combinations in the
States, even when engaged In interstate commerce; or, second,
by perfecting the present dual system and establishing Federal
supervision over State corporations engaged in interstate commerce by
way of license and control; or, third, the most radical remedy of all,
apparently adopted by the present administration, of surrendering
entirely the State power over corporations to the Federal government,
at least as to such corporations as might choose to take advantage of
such legislation. This would result in a centralization of nearly all
business under the control of the Federal government, as well as the
removal of the great bulk of litigation from State to Federal courts.
If not carefully guarded it would deprive the States not only of their
power to tax corporations, but of their ordinary police powers over
their administration. Such a radical step was unanimously opposed by
the United States Industrial Commission in 1900, and by nearly all
their expert witnesses, and was then, at least, only favored by the
heads of the great trusts, Mr. Archbold, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr.
Havemeyer.[1] But whichever way we look at it, there is no question
that the problem of the modern trust is that of the corporation, both
as to what laws shall regulate such a corporation, and whether they
shall be acts of Congress, or State statutes, or both.
[Footnote 1: For the full arguments on this most important question,
the reader may be referred to the article by Horace L. Wilgus in the
_Michigan Law Review_, February and April, 1904, and to the writer's
debate with Judge Grosscup, printed in the _Inter-Nation Magazine_ for
March, 1907.]
X
CORPORATIONS
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