of Socialism? One or the other must we choose, if the public is pleased to occupy itself in the future with the price question. * * * And so soon as the forces operating on price are understood to be complex, and of a nature not to be interfered with by legislation, we shall be free from a dangerous agitation."
The conclusions reached in the foregoing authorities show convincingly that upon this subject matter our contemporary thought, both from the angle of the law and political economy, is in harmony with the development of English opinion as expressed in the decision of Lord Justice Bowen in the Mogul Steamship Company case, referred to at length in the foregoing pages. The comprehensive analysis and helpful discussion of the very considerations paramount in this inquiry make relevant one further allusion to this classical opinion. "What then," Lord Bowen says,[1] "are the limitations which the law imposes on a trader in the conduct of his business? * * * His right to trade freely is a right which the law recognizes and encourages. * * * No man, whether trader or not, can, however, justify damaging another in his commercial business by fraud or misrepresentation. Intimidation, obstruction, and molestation are forbidden; so is the intentional procurement of a violation of individual rights, contractual or other. * * * But the defendants have been guilty of none of these acts. They have done nothing more against the plaintiffs than pursue to the bitter end a war of competition waged in the interest of their own trade. * * * I can find no authority for the doctrine that such a commercial motive deprives of 'just cause or excuse.'-
- ↑ Mogul Steamship Co. vs. McGregor, 23 Q. B. D. 611; 1892 Appeal Cases 25. (See 23 Q. B. D., at page 614.)
