he Statute of Laborers of 1360 declares void _all_
alliances and covins between masons, carpenters, and guilds, chapters
and ordinances; and from this time on the statutes recognize the
English common law of conspiracy in general words.

As this is one of the most important doctrines of the English law, and
moreover one which is most criticised to-day by large interests, both
of capital and labor, it will be wise to dwell upon its historical and
logical origin in this place, though we shall consider it at length
later as it touches various fields of legislation. It is notable for
two most important principles: first, that it recognizes the great
menace of combined action, and both forbids and punishes combinations
to do an act which might be lawful for the individual; second, of all
branches of civil, as distinct from criminal, law, it is the one which
most largely recognizes intent; that is to say, the ethical purposes
of the combination. It has been urged in some judicial opinions that
in matters of boycotts, strikes, etc., the law cannot go into the
motive; this argument obviously proves too much, for it is no more
easy to examine motives in the criminal law, and this is done all
the time. A homicide, for instance, will vary in all degrees between
justifiable guilt or manslaughter up to murder in the first degree,
according to the motive which prompted the act. It is really no more
difficult, and the reported cases do not show it to be any more
difficult, to consider the motive behind a combination of men or the
motive inspiring a series of related acts. The real trouble comes only
in the Federal anti-trust act, because the machinery of this clumsy
statute, a bill in equity, imposes upon judges the duty of finding the
facts.

This doctrine of conspiracy is so old in England that I am unable to
trace it to its source. From the wording of repeated early statutes
it would seem that they recognized this law of conspiracy as already
existing and merely applied it to new forms, such as, for instance,
the combination of masons, carpenters, and guilds, just mentioned. It
is, perhaps, not to us important whether it is originally based on
common law or these early statutes, for these statutes are quite early
enough to have passed into the common law of England, and consequently
into the common law in this country. Moreover, early statutes merely
express the common law; therein lies their significance. Now, many
State laws an