Distribution and Vertical Control
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
10-1-2014
Abstract
Modern distribution systems in American business developed in the first half of the twentieth century, largely in spite of rather than because of the legal regime. No broad consensus about the economic effects of vertical integration had been developed, and economic opinion varied widely, from harmful and monopolistic to harmless and efficient. One consequence is that the law of vertical integration became highly vulnerable to interest group pressure, mainly from independent small business and franchise dealers. Without a robust economic theory, much of the legal policy was driven by traditional common law concerns such as restraints on alienation. This hostility did not noticeably abate in federal law until the 1970s and after.
Keywords
vertical integration, monopolistic, restraints on alienation, distribution systems, franchise
Publication Title
The Opening of American Law: Neoclassical Legal Thought, 1870-1970
Repository Citation
Hovenkamp, Herbert, "Distribution and Vertical Control" (2014). Book Chapters. 42.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_chapters/42
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199331307.003.0013
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199331307.003.0013