Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, regulates private economic power so that markets remain open, rivalrous, and responsive to consumers. This article analyzes the field as a branch of commercial law that operates through public enforcement rather than private bargaining. It examines the intellectual origins of competition regulation, the competing schools of thought that shape its interpretation, and the three core pillars of modern enforcement: the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements, the control of abusive or monopolizing conduct by dominant firms, and the review of mergers. It then assesses the enforcement toolkit, including fines, leniency programs, and private damages actions, before analyzing the challenges that digital platforms and data-driven markets pose to traditional doctrine, using recent litigation against Google and the European Union's Digital Markets Act as illustrations. The article concludes that competition law remains indispensable but must reconcile legal certainty with economic complexity and the speed of technological change.
Source: Sarhad Journal of Legal Studies
Author: Shanfa Maryam
Institution: Chengdu University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225032674