15 U.S.C. § 1451
Section 1451 · Congressional declaration of policy
This is the Sherman Antitrust Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case Jones v. Rath Packing Co. (1977)
Most recently applied in Critcher v. L'Oreal USA, Inc. (May 2020)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Informed consumers are essential to the fair and efficient functioning of a free market economy. Packages and their labels should enable consumers to obtain accurate information as to the quantity of the contents and should facilitate value comparisons. Therefore, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to assist consumers and manufacturers in reaching these goals in the marketing of consumer goods.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Section 13 of Pub. L. 89 755 provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] shall take effect on July 1, 1967: Provided, That the Secretary (with respect to any consumer commodity which is a food, drug, device, or cosmetic, as those terms are defined by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) [section 301 et seq. of Title 21, Food and Drugs], and the Commission (with respect to any other consumer commodity) may by regulation postpone, for an additional twelve-month period, the effective date of this Act [this chapter] with respect to any class or type of consumer commodity on the basis of a finding that such a postponement would be in the public interest.”
Short Title
Section 1 of Pub. L. 89 755 provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Fair Packaging and Labeling Act’.”