The dubious origins of the Sherman Antitrust Act: The mouse that roared

The authors trace the dubious origins of the Sherman Antitrust Act through the legislative debate reported in the Congressional Record and contemporar y commentary in the newspaper particularly the New York Times. This examina tion shows that the evolution of effective marker governance mechanisms is sometimes unpredictable, unintended, and fortuitous. Just as weak law and m arker governance mechanisms can result from the best of legislative intenti ons, so superior law and marker governance mechanisms can result from the w orst of legislative intentions. The authors discuss implications for market ers and marketing scholars, particularly how powerful and useful generally worded law can become in the hands of judges who are invited by the initial legislators to interpret the specific reach of the law.