''Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow & Co''

892 Year 892 ( DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Poppo II, duke of Thuringia (Central Germany), is deposed by King Arnul ...

AC 25 is an

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...

case concerning the

economic tort Economic torts, which are also called business torts, are torts that provide the common law rules on liability which arise out of business transactions such as interference with economic or business relationships and are likely to involve pure eco ...

conspiracy to injure A civil conspiracy is a form of conspiracy involving an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective.

. A product of its time, the courts adhered to a '' laissez faire'' doctrine allowing firms to form a cartel, which would now be seen as contrary to the

Competition Act 1998 The Competition Act 1998 is the current major source of competition law in the United Kingdom, along with the Enterprise Act 2002. The act provides an updated framework for identifying and dealing with restrictive business practices and abuse of ...

. It is notable for Lord Bramwell's dictum that:

Facts

A group of ship owners formed an association (the

Far Eastern Freight Conference The Far Eastern Freight Conference was a co-operative agreement between a group of steamship owners and shipbrokers involved in scheduled cargo liner services principally between China and Japan, and European ports. It was established in 1879 as ...

) to raise their profits. The association agreed to limit the number of ships sent by the association to different ports, to give a 5% rebate on freights to all shippers of stock who dealt only with members, and that agents of members would be prohibited from dealing with anyone in the association if they did not deal exclusively with people in the association. If any member wished to withdraw, they would have to give notice. Mogul Steamship Co Ltd had been excluded. When it sent ships to the loading port to pick up cargo, the association sent more ships and underbid Mogul Steamship Co Ltd. The association also threatened to dismiss agents or withdraw rebates from anyone who dealt with Mogul Steamship Co Ltd. Mogul Steamship Co Ltd alleged there was a

its economic interests and sued for compensation.

Judgment

Court of Appeal

The

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

held by a majority that the action taken was lawful. Lord Esher MR dissented, and Bowen LJ and Fry LJ formed the majority. Bowen LJ noted the following.

House of Lords

The

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, affirming the Court of Appeal's decision, held that the acts were done with a lawful object of protecting and increasing the associations profits. Because no unlawful means had been employed, Mogul Steamship Co Ltd had no cause of action. Lord Bramwell's judgment read as follows.

AC 25, 44-49

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow and Co United Kingdom company case law English tort case law House of Lords cases 1892 in United Kingdom case law United Kingdom competition law Shipping in the United Kingdom

Facts

Judgment

Court of Appeal

House of Lords

See also

Notes