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Private Enforcement Of Competition Laws, Kent Roach, Michael J. Trebilcock

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article addresses a long-standing controversy in many antitrust/competition law regimes around the world, including Canada, as to the appropriate role for private enforcement of competition laws. The United States, from the origins of its antitrust law in 1890, has provided for an expansive role for private actions for violations through treble damages remedies, class action procedures, one-way cost rules, contingent fees, and civil jury trials. The Canadian experience has been sharply different: statutory recognition of any role for private action occurred only in amendments to the Competition Act in 1976, and private damages actions were confined to criminal violations …