Definitions for "Sherman Antitrust Act"
a law passed in 1890 in the United States to reduce anticompetitive behavior; Section 1 makes price fixing illegal, and Section 2 makes attempts to monopolize illegal.
A federal act which established as national policy the concept of a competitive marketing system by prohibiting companies from attempting to (1) monopolize any part of trade or commerce or (2) engage in contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in restraint of trade. The Act applies to all companies engaged in interstate commerce and to all companies engaged in foreign commerce. See also antitrust laws.
This earliest federal antimonopoly statute attempted to prohibit both business behavior and structures intended to produce a monopoly. More than a decade passed before the law met with major success in the courtroom.