Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

chain conspiracy

single conspiracy in which each person is responsible for a distinct act within the overall plan, such as an agreement to produce, import, and distribute narcotics in which each person acts only at one function. ( All participants are interested in the overall scheme and liable for all other participants' acts in furtherance of that scheme. "In a 'chain' conspiracy, the court looks to whether the parties serve as links in a chain. In Blumenthal u. United States (1947), the Supreme Court found that the parties had agreed to sell liquor at prices exceeding the ceiling set by regulations of the Office of Price Administration. The Court found that the agreements were steps in theformulation of one larger general conspiracy. By reason of all having knowledge of the plan's general scope and common end, the disposing of whiskey, they could be drawn together in a single conspiracy." Ellen S. Podgor & Jerold H. Israel, White Collar Crime in a Nutshell 52 (2d ed. 1997).