Board of Trade of the City of Chicago v. Dow Jones & Co.

456 N.E.2d 84 (1983)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
B
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Board of Trade of the City of Chicago v. Dow Jones & Co.

Supreme Court of Illinois
456 N.E.2d 84 (1983)

Facts

In 1982, the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago Co. (the Board) (plaintiff) sought permission from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to be designated as a contract market for stock market index futures contracts. Futures contracts allow investors to hedge against systemic stock market risk by binding parties to current stock market averages for a transaction at a specified future date. To obtain a license for trading futures contracts, the Board needed stock market averages based on respected and reliable stock market indexes. The Board already subscribed to a service offered by Dow Jones & Co. (Dow Jones) that allowed it to display averages from Dow Jones’s stock indexes in real time, and the Board used those indexes as a basis for their futures contracts in its application to the CFTC. Unsure of whether it could use the indexes under its existing contract with Dow Jones, the Board brought an action for declaratory judgment to determine its use was proper. The circuit court ruled in favor of the Board, but Dow Jones appealed, and the appellate court reversed the holding and found in its favor. The Board appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Goldenhersh, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 803,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Intellectual Property

Key Terms