FORESTALLING THE MARKET.
“[A] growing town in England might have placed a higher value on grain than a neighboring
town with a static population, yet traditional patterns of business might continue to send the same
amount of grain to both towns. A forestaller would bid against the traditional buyer in the smaller
town, obtain the grain, and resell it where it could command a higher price in the larger town.
Forestalling did not harm allocative efficiency. Indeed, it was a highly effective means of
reallocating scarce goods to their most highly valued uses — the very definition of efficiency.
Rather, forestalling was objectionable, and thus prohibited as a restraint of trade, because the
bidding process necessarily resulted in higher grain prices in many parts of the country.” Stephen F.
Ross, Principles of Antitrust Law 12 (1993). [Blacks Law 8th]