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1960 Wis. L. Rev. 197 (1960)
Twenty-Four Years of the Robinson-Patman Act

handle is hein.journals/wlr1960 and id is 209 raw text is: Twenty-Four Years Of The Robinson-Patman Act JOHN C. STEDMAN* INTRODUCTION The efforts of Congress to deal legislatively with price discrimina- tion and the problems it creates for our competitive structure have now gone through three major phases of ialmost a quarter of a century each. The first began in 1890 with the enactment of the Sherman Act' which was directed generally against restraints of trade and attempts to monopolize, but made no specific reference to price discrimination as such. The second period began with the enactment of the Clayton Act' in 1914, section 2 of which dealt specifically, but, as it turned out, inadequately, with price discrim- ination tending to lessen competition or create monopoly. The third period began with the Robinson-Patman Acts in 1936 which spelled out in considerable, and confusing, detail a set of prohibi- tions against discriminatory pricing and related practices. This Act is still in effect. The present article deals with its operation. The Robinson-Patman Act, during its twenty-four year life, has been the subject of heated controversy with respect to both its merit and its meaning. The modest purpose of the present article is ,neither to add fuel to the fire nor to dampen the debate. It pur- ports only to provide a capsule review of the Act and its administra- tion and to comment upon its underlying philosophy and relation- ship to our traditional and accepted competitive concepts. The article is directed more to the general lawyer, largely unversed in the mysteries of the Act and yet uncomfortably aware that it im- pinges upon the interests and conduct of his buyer and seller clients, than to the trade regulation or antitrust specialist. Consistent with this objective, the details and complexities of legal interpretation and procedure, at both court and commission levels, are largely passed over, as is the extensive literature4 and body of case law * B.A. 1928, LL.B. 1934, Univ. of Wis.; LL.M. 1940, Columbia Univ.; Professor of Law, 1935-, Univ. of Wis. '26 Stat. 209-10 (1890), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7 (1952). 2 38 Stat. 730 (1914), 15 U.S.C. §§ 12-19 (1952). 149 Stat. 1526 (1936), 15 U.S.C. § 13 (1952). 4The leading texts and articles on the Robinson-Patman Act are listed in Twenty Years of Robinson-Patman Literature, 1936-1956, Special Reference

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