Word Finder - monopolies

definition

A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.

definition

An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.

example

A land monopoly renders its holder(s) nearly almighty in an agricultural society.

definition

The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.

example

Granting monopolies in concession constitutes a market-conform alternative to taxation for the state, while the crown sometimes bestowed a monopoly as an outrageous gift.

definition

(metonymy) The market thus controlled.

definition

(metonymy) The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the above manners.

synonyms

• monopolist

They desired equal rights for all citizens, the abolition of monopolies and abuses, together with the maintenance of the state's independence.

In theory the most lucrative branches of commerce, such as the pepper trade, were monopolies vested in the Crown; the chartered companies and associations of merchant Policy.

The economic importance of salt is further indicated by the almost universal prevalence in ancient and medieval times, and indeed in most countries down to the present day, of salt taxes or of government monopolies, which have not often been directed, as they were in ancient Rome, to enable every one to procure so necessary a condiment at a moderate price.

In 1889 Dr. Leyds, a young Hollander, was appointed state secretary, and the system of state monopolies around which so much corruption grew up was soon in full course of development.

In the latter connexion he enlarged on several points in which England had done less than many continental states for the abolition of monopolies and abuses.

The right to manufacture and the right to retail are both monopolies of government permitted to private individuals only upon terms. Distillation of country spirits is allowed according to two systems - either to the highest bidder under strict supervision, or only upon certain spots set apart for the purpose.

To obtain these money had been necessary; and to raise money the pasha had instituted those internal "reforms" - the bizarre system of state monopolies and the showy experiments in new native industries which are described in the article Egypt (q.v.).

So early as 1834 it seemed as though the struggle would be renewed; for Mehemet Ali had extended to his new pashaliks his system of monopolies and conscription, and the Syrians, finding that they had exchanged Turkish whips for Egyptian scorpions, rose in a passion of revolt.

But he was believed to be planning the conquest of other Central American states, and his policy of granting monopolies and commercial concessions to his own supporters aroused widespread discontent.

Neither the state monopolies nor the public land in Italy afforded any appreciable revenue.

Viewed broadly, the financial resources of the earlier Empire were obtained from (1) the public land alike of the state and the Princeps; (2) the monopolies, principally of minerals; (3) the land tax; (4) the customs; (5) the taxes on inheritances, on sales and on the purchase of slaves (vectigalia).

Closely akin are the payments demanded for privileges to industrial undertakings given as " franchises," very often in connexion with monopolies, e.g.

We know indeed that he sympathized cordially with the home policy of the government; he had no objection to such monopolies or patents as seemed advantageous to the country, and for this he is certainly not to be blamed.'

This proposal, though pressed by Coke, was allowed to drop; while the king and Buckingham, acting under the advice of Williams, afterwards lord keeper, agreed to give up the monopolies.

But on the r4th of March one 1 For a full discussion of Bacon's connexion with the monopolies, see Gardiner, Prince Charles, &c. ii.

For his opinion of monopolies in general, see Letters and Life, vi.

Shortly after his accession (March 4, 1844) he laid several projects of reform before the Riksdag; but the estates would do little more than abolish the obsolete marriage and inheritance laws and a few commercial monopolies.

The revenues from rents and leases of state monopolies are derived from posts, telegraphs, mines, mint, forests, banks, fisheries, factories, &c., and amount to about 110,000 per annum.

Out of the actual total revenue 500,000 is represented by customs and 110,000 by rents and leases of state monopolies, leaving 990,000 for maliat and revenues of Crown lands.

Among the rights surrendered by the sultan of Ternate to the Dutch were those of granting monopolies and mining concessions, now vested in the Dutch resident.

A system of oppressive trade monopolies was also introduced.

But the Crown frequently farmed out its monopolies to individual merchants, or granted trading-licences by way of pension or reward.

Tithes, many hereditary privileges and all monopolies were abolished; every convent was closed and its property nationalized; the Jesuits, who had returned after the death of Pombal, were again expelled; the charter of 1826 was restored.

Among other things he abolished trade monopolies, closed factories and schools, and reduced the strength of the army to 9000 men.

The Delaware & Raritan Canal Company and the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company, both chartered in 1830 and both monopolies,' had been practically consolidated in 1831; in 1836 these joint companies gained control of the Philadelphia & Trenton railway; in 1867 these " United New Jersey Railroad & Canal Companies " consolidated with the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company (which was opened in 1836 and controlled the important railway link between New Brunswick and Jersey City), and profits were to be divided equally between the four companies; and in 1871 these entire properties were leased for 999 years to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Trade monopolies were prohibited, and provision made for civilizing the natives, the suppression of the slave trade, and the protection of missionaries, scientists and explorers.

In accordance with this request the 5th marquess of Lansdowne, then secretary of state for foreign affairs, issued a despatch on the 8th of August 1903 to the British representatives at the courts of the powers which signed the Berlin Act, drawing attention to the alleged cases of ill-treatment of natives and to the existence of trade monopolies in the Congo Free State, and in conclusion stating that His Majesty's government would This concession was asserted by traders who had previously dealt direct with the natives, and by traders who hoped so to do, to contravene the provision of the Act of Berlin prohibiting any commercial monopoly in the Congo basin.

The local authorities derive a large income from private property, and from monopolies such as water, gas, electric light, telephones and tramway service, which they carry on, and on which the same observations may be made as on the post office and telegraph services; but in addition there is a large amount of taxation.

The state revenue is derived from customs; from public works and public land; from indirect taxes in the shape of stamp, inheritance, beer, spirit, petroleum and other duties; from direct taxes on land and buildings, with road-tolls, licences for the sale of alcohol and traders' registration fees; from the tobacco, salt, match, playing-card and cigarette-paper monopolies; and from the postal, telegraphic and telephonic services.

Along its coast there were several isolated establishments presided over by Spaniards, who were deprived of a convenient market for the produce of the soil by the monopolies imposed by the mother country.

Spanish monopolies filled the seamen who sailed the Caribbean with a natural hate of everything Spanish.

General control of the media of commerce, economic co-operation, tax reform, banking reforms, legislation against monopolies, disposal of state lands, legislation in aid of the farmer and labourer, have been issues of one party or another.

Parliament was beginning tO quarrel with the royal prerogative, particularly when expressed in the grant of monopolies, and even Mountjoys success in Ireland (1602-1603) failed to revive popular enthusiasm for the dying queen.

Further, a system of granting monopolies and other privileges had again sprung up. Many of these grants embodied some scheme which was intended to serve the interests of the public, and many actions which appear startling to us were covered by the extreme protectionist theories then in vogue.

James was driven by the outcry raised to abandon these monopolies, and an att of Parliament in 1624 placed the future grant of proteotions to new inventions under the safeguard of the judges.

Tobacco and salt manufactures are government monopolies.

But at the same time he devoted his energies to the improvement of the administration of the empire; he reformed the standard of coinage, fixed the price of provisions and other necessaries of daily life, remitted the tax upon inheritances and manumissions, abolished various monopolies, repressed corruption and encouraged trade.

Deficits appeared, which had to be covered temporarily by new loans, and which forced the government to establish monopolies on salt, tobacco, matches, mineral oils, &c. Every such step increased the unpopularity of the government and strengthened the opposition.

To an outsider it also appears that the staff of officials is very largely in excess of any real needs of administration; several monopolies, which interfere with the habits of the people, tend to produce discontent; and the taking of their land and houses for public works, roads, &c., while but a mere fraction of their real value is allowed as compensation, does not help to increase their acquiescence in foreign control.

In England historic protests were made against such monopolies, but the chartered companies were less exclusive in England than in either France or Holland, the governors of provinces almost always allowing strangers to trade on receiving some pecuniary inducement.

They were monopolies, and therefore, of course, obnoxious; and it is undoubted that the colonies they founded only became prosperous when they had escaped from their yoke.

In the case of England and Holland, the enterprise of the companies saved them from suffering from the monopolies of Spain and Portugal, and the wars of the English, and those of the Dutch in the Indies with Spain and Portugal, were paid for by the companies.

Old monopolies and cozy cartels have no place in this new market.

Were they attracted by the long-dead NSDAP's broken or unfulfilled promises to break up capitalist monopolies?

Meanwhile, televised glove puppetry remains an oligopoly, with only a few troupes in business and the monopolies usually run by family members.

The railways showed an increase of 351,685; registration transfer and succession, 295,560; direct taxation, 42,136 (mainly from income tax, which more than made up for the remission of the house tax in the districts of Calabria visited by the earthquake of 1906); customs and excise, 1,036,742; government monopolies, 291,027; posts, 4I,3fo; telegraphs, 23,364; telephones, 65,771.

Revenue from taxation had risen in a decade from 7,000,000 to 20,200,000; profit on state monopolies had increased from 7,000,000 to 9,400,000; exports had grown to exceed imports; income from the working of telegraphs had tripled itself; railways had been extended from 2200 to 6200 kilometres, and the annual travelling public had augmented from 15,000,000 to 25,000,000 persons.

There is also this further disadvantage, that in the gradual progress of consolidation railway companies take upon themselves the aspect of large monopolies, of whose apparently unrestricted power the public is jealous.

These concessions in so far as the y prejudiced the commerce and general interests of the inhabitants, consisted chiefly in the granting of monopolies.

He was astute enough to take advantage of the offence given to the powers by Mehemet Ali's system of monopolies, and in 1838 signed with Great Britain, and afterwards with others, a commercial treaty which cut at the root of the pasha's system.