Lane v. Fitzsimmons Stores Ltd.

McCOLLOCH, District Judge.

In an age when punitive damages and informer recoveries are being re-examined,1 a construction of a statute that permits an overcharge of less than five dollars to be converted into a claim for more than ten thousand dollars calls for serious consideration. It may be said that Congress made the law, and the Court’s duty is to enforce it, but the question remains: Did Congress intend such a result?2 A great scholar when called from the courts of New York to the Supreme Court of the United States, declared that his new duties consisted largely of interpreting acts of…