MCA Chapter 41

in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-1 Public ginner to mark all cotton baled by him with number and initials of owner and his own.

Every public ginner shall plainly mark or stamp upon each bale of cotton packed or baled by him, the number of the bale, his own initials, and the initials of the customer for whom the cotton is ginned and baled, and shall enter in a book or register the name of the customer, the date when each bale was ginned and baled, and a record of the marks placed by him upon each bale as above directed, and shall allow an inspection of such entries at any time by any person interested to make it. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall upon conviction, be punished as for a misdemeanor.

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-3 Cotton weighers to keep register for entry of all cotton with marks, numbers, stamps.

Every public cotton weigher, and every person who weighs cotton for any warehouse or gin or cotton buyer, shall keep a book or register, in which he shall enter all marks or stamps provided for in Section 75-41-1 appearing upon each bale of cotton weighed by him, and shall allow an inspection of such entries at any time by any person interested to make it. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-5 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1973, ch. 302, § 1, eff from and after passage (approved February 2, 1973). §§ 75-41-5 through 75-41-9 . [Codes, Hemingway’s 1917, §§ 4752 to 4754; 1930, §§ 4809 to 4811; 1942, §§ 4829 to 4831; Laws, 1914, ch. 162] Editor’s Notes — Former § 75-41-5 prohibited corporations from owning gins or controlling them if the corporation engaged in working cotton products. Former § 74-41-7 authorized oil mills to own gins of limited capacity. Former § 75-41-9 imposed penalties for operating gins in violation of Chapter 41.

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-11 Certain combinations of cotton ginners in restraint of trade prohibited.

It shall be unlawful for chain operators of cotton gins, operating gins in two or more places within the State of Mississippi, to discriminate in prices paid for cottonseed or in the prices charged for ginning services; the necessary operating expenses, freight rates, and other proper elements affecting prices being considered, and the effect of which would be to destroy or attempt to destroy competition at either or any of said places in which said gins shall be operated. Provided, however, that a reduction in the charge for the service herein mentioned made in any locality for the purpose of meeting legitimate competition, or a higher price paid for seed in any locality, when such higher price paid for seed is paid in meeting legitimate competition, shall not constitute a violation of this chapter. And it shall be sufficient to make out a prima facie case of a violation to show a lower charge for the service herein mentioned in one locality than another, or to show a higher price paid for said seed in one locality than another, differences of freight and other necessary expenses of operating business considered.

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-13 Penalties.

On conviction of violating Section 75-41-11, such operator of chain gins shall be fined in the sum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per bale for the first five (5) bales, and Ten Dollars ($10.00) for each successive bale ginned a day in pursuance of such discriminatory practices; or the said penalty may be recovered by appropriate proceedings in the name of the state, instituted by the attorney general or any district attorney, with the consent of the attorney general, in either the chancery or the circuit courts of the state, and relief may be granted by injunction in the name of the state, as in case of violation of other anti-trust legislation of the state, and each day’s operations shall constitute a separate offense.

Miss. Code Ann. § 75-41-15 Liquidated damages.

Any person, natural or artificial, being injured or damaged by a violation of the provisions of Section 75-41-11, whether said damages be direct or indirect, may recover as liquidated damages in any appropriate action or suit in the circuit or chancery courts, the sum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per bale for the first five (5) bales, and the sum of Ten Dollars ($10.00) for each successive bale thereafter ginned a day by the unlawful combination in competition with the plaintiff; and any person, natural or artificial, being injured by said unlawful combination, may have the relief of injunction in any appropriate proceeding in addition to the recovery of said damages, and each day’s operations shall constitute a separate offense.