Board of Trade of Chicago v. United States, 246 U.S. 231 (1918) (No. 98)

Case name: Board of Trade of Chicago v. United States Opinion filed: 1918-03-04 Docket No.: 98 Citations: • 246 U.S. 231 • 38 S. Ct. 242 • 62 L. Ed. 683 • 1918 U.S. LEXIS 1538 Case holding summaries: • in determining whether rule violates antitrust law, "knowledge of intent may help the court to interpret facts and to predict consequences" • recognizing that because every agreement involving trade is a restraint on trade in some form, the proper inquiry is whether the restraint suppresses or destroys competition • providing the classic formulation of the rule of reason by Justice Brandeis: "The true test of legality is whether the restraint imposed is such as merely regulates and perhaps thereby promotes competition or whether it is such as may suppress or even destroy competition." • “Every agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence.” • noting that futures trading created a public market for grain arrivals • "Every agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence." • "Every agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence." • providing the classic formulation of the rule of reason by Jus- tice Brandeis: “The true test of legality is whether the restraint imposed is such as merely regulates and perhaps thereby promotes competition or whether it is such as may suppress or even destroy competition.” • reasoning that the term “restraint of trade” in §1 cannot possibly refer to any restraint on com­ petition because “[e]very agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence” • "knowledge of intent may help the court to interpret facts and to predict consequences" • "Every agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence." • noting that the challenged