Section — Konings, Theologia Moralis
§ V. On Monopolies
- Monopoly, according to the force of the name itself, derived from the Greek monos, alone, and poleo, I sell, signifies the sale of one, or made by one sole seller; and therefore it is conveniently accepted for: the exclusive power of selling, existing in the possession of one, or of only a few.
Monopoly they generally distinguish into public and private. A public monopoly is one if it is constituted by public authority, which indeed is wont to happen in two ways, namely: a) when the public authority or Government reserves to itself, as such, the sale of some merchandise, and by this reason imposes on the community as it were an indirect tax; b) when public authority grants to one or only a few citizens the privilege of selling certain merchandise, with the exclusion of others. - A private monopoly is one if one, or several by the mode of one, by their own private authority, machination, and industry bring it about that either they alone sell certain merchandise, or that they do not sell their merchandise except at such a price.
- Query. Whether monopoly is licit?
Resp. 1° Public monopoly by the confession of all is licit; provided it rests on just causes, and moreover care is taken that the privileged monopolists do not increase the price of the merchandise beyond the terms of the just.
Resp. 2° As to private monopoly, first of all a threefold mode must be distinguished by which it can be had, namely: a) by impeding, lest foreign merchants import merchandise of the same kind; or b) by buying all the merchandise of the same kind; or c) by conspiring with others, so that no one sell merchandise for less. But with this distinction attended to, it seems it must be established thus.
- First Rule. - When one or several impede merchandise from being imported from elsewhere, it must be investigated by what means they do this. If for this they use force or fraud or other unjust means, they certainly sin against justice and are held to restitution both toward foreign merchants, and toward fellow citizens who suffer damage through the unjustly impeded importation of merchandise. But if they apply no unjust means, they do not seem able to be condemned of sin, at least of injustice.
I say: at least of injustice; for those impeding the importation of merchandise, even without injustice, would then certainly sin against charity toward neighbor if they act thus without a right cause, for example: without the cause of obtaining honest profit, or of guarding beforehand lest they themselves and fellow citizens be compelled to sell their merchandise at a cheaper price. For charity forbids that without a right cause we furnish to our neighbor even only an occasion of damage.
- Second Rule. - If one or a few buy all, or almost all, merchandise of some kind which is necessary for the sustenance of life and common society, for example grain, oil, salt, etc., so that afterwards they may sell it above the highest price which, the monopoly excluded, would run, from the opinion which St. Alphonsus1 calls common and true, they sin against justice; because in this hypothesis they are the true cause why the price is unjustly increased.
But we said: 1° if all or almost all merchandise of some kind, etc.; for it seems to pertain to the common industry of merchants, certainly licit, that they buy at the price now running merchandise of this kind remaining after citizens have sufficiently procured it for themselves, so that afterwards they may sell it with some moderate profit.2
We said: 2° merchandise which is necessary for the sustenance of life and common society; for if it is a question of things in no way necessary, but only of things pertaining to pleasure, for example precious gems, etc., the proposed rule is not applicable, as you will easily understand from the things noted above concerning the price of such things, n. 965.
We said: 3° so that afterwards they may sell it above the highest price which, the monopoly excluded, would run; for if afterwards in selling they do not exceed the highest price which would run even with the monopoly excluded, they do not seem to sin against justice; because they are not the cause why the price is increased unjustly; indeed, according to many, neither do they sin against charity, since charity does not oblige one to neglect his own advantage to prevent the inconvenience of a neighbor. Yet it seems opposed to the due order of charity that one seller of this kind also induce others to sell similarly, and thus, without a right cause, close off to citizens the way of buying merchandise at a lesser price.
- Third Rule. - When several conspire so that they sell only at such a price, again a distinction is needed. If they conspire thus to a price above the highest, they sin against justice and are held to restitution; but if they conspire thus to the highest price only, they do not indeed sin against justice; but, from the common doctrine, against charity; because charity, although it does not oblige you to sell below the highest price, nevertheless seems to oblige you not to dissuade others from selling at a lesser price; just as, granted that charity does not oblige you to give alms, nevertheless it seems to oblige you not to dissuade others who wish to bestow it.1
Moreover, those things which in this third rule are established concerning sellers conspiring must also, as Carriere rightly warns, be applied to buyers conspiring to a price below the lowest (which is against justice), or to the lowest price only (which is against charity). And the same things they commonly apply to craftsmen who, (as nowadays is practiced rather frequently, especially by members of the pernicious society commonly called the International) by mutual agreement promise among themselves that they will not do or perfect such a work unless they receive such a price; and, vice versa, also to masters who by mutual machination hire craftsmen to work at a lesser price. For although all these things are not monopolies strictly so called, nevertheless concerning these one must judge from the same principles.