1. To prevent (an event, result, etc.).
2. Hist. To intercept or obstruct (as a person on a royal highway).
3. Hist. To prevent (a tenant) from coming on the premises.
4. Hist. To intercept (as a deer reentering a forest).
5. Hist. To buy (goods) for the purpose of reselling at a higher price. • At common law, this was an indictable offense. — Also spelled forstall. See FORESTALLING THE MARKET.
“[A] growing town in England might have placed a higher value on grain than a neighboring town with a static population, yet traditional patterns of business might continue to send the same amount of grain to both towns. A forestaller would bid against the traditional buyer in the smaller town, obtain the grain, and resell it where it could command a higher price in the larger town. Forestalling did not harm allocative efficiency. Indeed, it was a highly effective means of reallocating scarce goods to their most highly valued uses — the very definition of efficiency. Rather, forestalling was objectionable, and thus prohibited as a restraint of trade, because the bidding process necessarily resulted in higher grain prices in many parts of the country.” Stephen F. Ross, Principles of Antitrust Law 12 (1993).
