On The Rule Of Reason Of Anti-Monopoly Law

Rule of reason is one of judicative principle to test the legality of the behaviors in restraint of the competition in American Anti-trust Law. The reasonableness test implies in rule of reason. The reasonableness test primarily originates from the legal thought in which law only prohibits the unreasonable things. When courts use reasonableness test to judge the legality of the behaviors in restraint of the competition, rule of reason became judicative principle in Anti-monopoly Law. This is connotation of rule of reason. When behaviors in restraint of the competition cause legal detriment to the right on Anti-monopoly Law and assume legal liability, the legal character of these behaviors is a tort .It provides the jurisprudential basis for theory on judgment of legality.Economics endow the reasonableness test new implication. In reality, some behaviors in restraint of the competition will bring not only negative effects but also proactive effects and proactive effects will exceed negative effects, thus it is unfair to judge those behaviors illegal. Therefore the reasonableness test deals with the Anti-trust problems with economic ideas, which compare the social cost of a restrictive behavior with its efficiency benefits. If the efficiency benefits overcome the cost, the behavior is reasonable. Thus it should be legal. When courts compare these effects, they actually compare the interests on Anti-monopoly Law. In fact, the reasonableness test is an interest analysis. Owing to interests on Anti-monopoly Law will vary with the values on Anti-monopoly Law, the reasonableness test is the barometers of Anti-monopoly Law. The values on American Anti-trust Law aid to protect competition, to increase efficiency, to promote innovation and to benefit consumers. In short, the reasonableness test implied in the rule of reason is a mode in economics to settle quaestio juris. In this regard, the rule of reason's position in Anti-monopoly Law is fundamental principle.Applications of the rule of reason focus on result and purpose of the restrictive behavior. Because result belongs to factum juridicum, and it's difficult to prove purpose, rule of reason lacks certainty of law. Uncertainty is an important character of the rule of reason. Application of rule of per se illegal rule is the best method to overcome uncertainty of the rule of reason. One kind of method is direct applications, the other is the structured rule of reason. The structured rule of reason contains three steps. Firstly, a restraint can be found illegal without creating and evaluating a massive evidentiary record. Secondly, it is the truncated rule of reason test. Finally, it is the all-sided application of the rule of reason. In addition to this, exemption and quantification on...