nash argued decided june samuel adams john spooner george rublee petitioners assistant attorney general fowler alexander akerman respondent justice holmes delivered opinion indictment two counts first conspiracy restraint trade second conspiracy monopolize trade contrary act july chap stat comp stat commonly known sherman act originally third count monopolizing held bad demurrer struck allegations fact two counts alike summed narrative form follows american naval stores company west virginia corporation principal office savannah branch offices new york philadelphia chicago engaged buying selling shipping exporting spirits turpentine southern abroad nash president shotter chairman board directors myers vice president boardman treasurer deloach secretary moller manager jacksonville florida branch national transportation terminal company new jersey corporation warehouses terminals handling spirits turpentine naval stores fernandina places named florida alabama mississippi engaged storing turpentine rosin issuing warehouse receipts myers president deloach secretary moller manager jacksonville branch may alleged corporations individuals conspired restrain commerce articles named among foreign nations restraint effected following ways among others bidding turpentine rosin competitors sell ruinous prices causing naval stores receipts naturally go one port go another purchasing thereafter large part supplies ports known closed ports intent depress market refraining purchasing appreciable part savannah primary market naval stores purchases tend strengthen prices defendants taking receipts closed ports named basis market savannah coercing factors brokers contracts defendants storage purchase receipts refusing purchase factors brokers unless contracts entered circulating false statements naval stores production stocks hand issuing fraudulent warehouse receipts fraudulently grading regrading raising grades rosins falsely gauging spirits turpentine attempting bribe employees competitors obtain information concerning business stocks inducing consumers payments threats boycotts postpone dates delivery contract supplies thus enabling defendants postpone purchasing purchase tend strengthen market making tentative offers large amounts naval stores depress market accepting contracts small amounts purchasing market depressed offers selling far cost order compel competitors meet prices ruinous everybody fixing price turpentine cost production foregoing purpose driving competitors business restraining foreign trade second count monopolizing trade two counts us demurred grounds statute vague inoperative criminal side neither counts alleged overt act contemplated acts things constituted offense done acts vaguely charged demurrer overruled action raises important questions case deal passing matters detail objection criminal operation statute thought warranted standard oil ed sup ann cas american tobacco ed sup cases may taken established contracts combinations within act reason intent inherent nature contemplated acts prejudice public interests unduly restricting competition unduly obstructing course trade thereupon said crime thus defined statute contains definition element degree estimates may differ result man might find prison honest judgment anticipate jury less competent men kindred proposition criminality act depend upon whether jury may think reasonable unreasonable must definiteness certainty cited late justice brewer sitting circuit tozer inters com fed apart common law restraint trade thus taken statute law full instances man fate depends estimating rightly jury subsequently estimates matter degree judgment wrong may incur fine short imprisonment may incur penalty death act causing death may murder manslaughter misadventure according degree danger attending common experience circumstances known actor meaning fiction implied malice cases common law man might answer life consequences neither intended foresaw com pierce mass crim com chance mass criterion cases examine whether common social duty circumstances suggested circumspect conduct east man kill another driving automobile furiously crowd might convicted murder however little expected result see reg desmond illustrations stephen dig crim law art ed drive negligently street might get manslaughter less reg swindall carr cox rex burton strange last case might held although thought acting prudent man see germanic oceanic steam nav aitken ed sup without argument case nearly disposed oil texas ed sup justice brewer decision similar ones cited vain opinion constitutional difficulty way enforcing criminal part act coming next objection overt act laid answer sherman act punishes conspiracies aimed footing say make act act conspiring condition liability decisions relations subsequent overt act crimes rev stat comp stat hyde ed sup brown elliott ed sup bearing upon statute contain requirement found section see reason reading sherman act find think unnecessary offer arguments suggestion matters alleged contemplated constituted offense done enough say conceivably might adequate accomplish result intent alleged convert face might ordinary acts competition small dishonesties trade conspiracy wider scope explained swift ed sup loewe lawler ed sup ann cas course fact calls conscience circumspection prosecuting officers lest unfounded charge wider purpose acts necessarily import convert small local offenses crimes statutes say case winslow ed sup intent convert proposed conduct crime finally pronounce counts us bad uncertainty demand defendants bill particulars furnished reason fear injustice done respect need allege prove conspirators traders loewe lawlor ed sup ann cas first count least well enough demurrer overruled defendants pleaded guilty trial verdict finding nash shotter myers moller boardman guilty deloach guilty saying nothing corporations numerous exceptions taken writs certiorari granted bring ordinary incidents criminal trial shall say little necessary dispose case argued good deal force evidence alleged conspiracy certain acts done behalf corporations ground charging defendants found guilty relation companies presumably cognizant less responsible corporate acts acts tended prove conspiracy proved corporations clearly anyone else parties therefore verdict silent set aside need consider effect rev stat comp stat whether evidence possible find defendants guilty reason intent shown shared corporations judgment must reversed another reason reason instructions told jury evidence means insisted prosecution tends show conspiracy said consider carefully means indictment charges sufficient shown beyond reasonable doubt means charged part common scheme design understanding conspiracy two defendants means sufficient cause essential obstruction restraint free untrammeled flow trade commerce foreign nations thus may admitted means alleged need proved charge invited jury consider permitted verdict upon one fifth sixth eighth statements means employed withdrawn jury jury attention seems called fact charges abandoned connection important furthermore one means alleged false raising grades false gauging taken evidence shown systematic tendency show scheme alleged taken jury might taken instructions showed cheating warrant finding conspiracy defendants charged unnecessary consider whether evidence sufficient warrant conviction upon means alleged instance first absence evidence add another reason holding instructions wrong upon vital point judgment reversed justice pitney dissents