ABSTRACT
Between the English and German laws relating to trade combinations there exists one important difference. German law regards combination itself as legitimate and enforces the contracts which implement it; tyrannous action on the part of the combines is restricted, and, as far as is necessary for industrial health, forbidden. This follows from Section 8 of the decree, which defines the conditions necessary to effective secession, and from Section 9 and the other Kartellpolizei provisions, which restrict the action of combinations when the public advantage is in danger. English law takes the opposite view: in so far as a contract is in restraint of trade it is unenforceable, and any party to it may withdraw at any time; provided, however, that the courts are not asked to give effect to a combination contract as such, they will enforce a contract between a combine and a third party, however oppressive it may be. The actions of a combine, whether against outsiders, traders, or the 140public, are held to be legitimate competition so long as they fall short of force, fraud, or malice; contracts made by Kartells are invalid as between parties, but legally binding upon all persons dealing with them.
