International Harvester Co. v. Kentucky, 234 U.
S. 216, followed to effect that §§ 3915 and 3941, of the
Kentucky Anti-Trust Statutes are invalid under the due process
provision of the Fourteenth
Page 236 U. S. 661
Amendment because, as construed by the Court of Appeals of that
state, they offer no standard of conduct that it is possible to
know.
152 Ky. 589 reversed.
The facts, which involve the constitutionality under the
Fourteenth Amendment of certain provisions of the Antitrust Act of
the State of Kentucky, are stated in the opinion.
Memorandum opinion by MR. JUSTICE McKENNA, by direction of the
Court:
Plaintiff in error was convicted in the Circuit Court of Barren
County, Kentucky, and fined for alleged violation of §§ 3915 and
3941a of the Kentucky laws, commonly known as the Kentucky
Anti-Trust Statutes, and prosecutes this writ to review the
judgment.
The grounds of error assigned are: (1) that the statutes in
question are in conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States; (2) that the particular
transactions involved were transactions of interstate commerce, and
protected from state regulation by the commerce clause of the
Constitution of the United States.
These grounds were presented to the lower court first by
demurrer, which was overruled, and, after answer and trial to a
jury, by a request for peremptory instructions for defendant.
The sections of the laws of Kentucky referred to were declared
to be invalid by this Court under the Fourteenth Amendment because
they, as construed by the Court of
Page 236 U. S. 662
Appeals of the state, offered no standard of conduct that it is
possible to know.
International Harvester Co. v. Kentucky,
234 U. S. 216.
Therefore, the judgment of conviction against plaintiff in error
must be reversed.
It is not necessary to pass on any other question.
Judgment reversed.