Freedom of Competition and Criminal Law*
| Published date | 01 April 1944 |
| Author | Hermann Mannheim |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1944.tb00965.x |
| Date | 01 April 1944 |
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Nos.
I
and
2
--
VOl.
VII
APRIL,
1944
FREEDOM
OF
COMPETITION AND
CRIMINAL LAWX
I
N
recent issues
of
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW there have been interesting
and informative discussions on competition and monopoly by 1-r.
W’.
Friedmann from the point
of
view of the civil law1 and by Dr.
W.
Arthur Lewis from the point of view of economics.2 Neither
of
these
authors had any reason to approach the problem as one
of
the criminal
law, which did not come under their respective spheres of interest. In
the present paper an attempt will be made to fill. this gap. Such an a.tempt
might be appropriate not only because of the intrinsic significance of the
subject but also because to the criminaI lawyer and criminol?gist the
matter provides an almost ideal opportunity to examine the much wider
problem
as
to whether the criminal branch
of
the law is capable
of
dealing
with large scale economic and social issues or whether its scope should
better be confined to the protection
of
property in its simplest forms and
of
similar more tangible and altogether less complex values. Has the
criminal law, in the economic field, to be content to penalise anti-social
actions of
a
comparatively primitive character, mostly those types
of
offences committed by the poorer classes
of
the community, or is it equally
well equipped to contribute to the solution of even the most, complicated
issues of modern economic policy? And if the answer should largely be in
the negative, what are the consequences to be drawn for the future
of
criminal legislation
?
Early English law is remarkable for its insistence upon the criminal
‘.
6
MOD.
L.,R.
I,
et seq.
a
6
MOD.
L. R.
97.
et seq.
*
The substance
of
this paper
i?
taken from
a
chapter in
the
author’s forth-
coming book,
Social
Reconstructio?z
and
the
Future
of
Crime
(ILternational
Library
of
Sociology and Social li?construction, editor Dr.
Karl
Mannheim,
published by Messrs. Kegan
l’aul,
Trench, Tn.bner
&
Co..
Ltd., London,
to
-
whom the author
is
indebted for their perrxission to publish
this
part in advance).
I
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