The court revoked the charter of the North River Sugar Refining Company because it had joined the “the great Sugar Trust.” The decision was predicated on the idea that a trust had a public duty, and if a judge believed a trust to be neglecting that duty, he could take away the legal basis for its existence. Businessmen panicked, recognizing that this sweeping decision threatened the existence of all trusts. But outside of business circles, the judgment was widely popular.
