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the affirmative defenses (other than-a procedural one) are t
based solely upon the premise that 'Article XI is in violation 1
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of public policy because-the article as quoted has a tendency
to restrain real estate brokers in the exercise of their trade
thus stifling cor~pstition in the real estate business- and - -
creating a monopoly. The trial judge agreed.
- There is no doubt this quoted clause is very one-si~edly
in favor of the developer,l however, as we have said, the only
issue-presented to us, and the trial judge, is whether or not
the clause is in restraint of trade.
The Florida case cited to us on this question is
Stewart v. Stearns & Culver Lumber Co., 48 So. 19 (Fla. 1908).
In Stewart the-owner of a sawmill, employing a large percentage
of the population of a local community, entered into a con-
tractual arrangement with a general store owner under which
the mill was to issue checks or coupons to its employees against
their wages. The coupons would be exchangeable €or merchandise
o_n1y at the general store, so by such means the general store
owner had a lock on all the shopping of the majority of the
population in the community. The court found that such an
arrangement effectively prevented any other rival shopkeepers
from competing and that the ariangetaent was injurious and
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detrimental to the general public welfare of the community.
- The set-up in Stewart appears to be a far cry from
the case now before us. Here we have an exclusive rental
arrangement, set forth in a binding contract between the
parties, covering but 1585 lots, each only 2100 square feet,
in a recreational park, slap dab in the middle of one of the -
fastest developing residential areas in the entire United States . 2
1. However, all parties concede that the sale of the lots
~ themselves was without profit - the profit to come from
this rental arrangement. ~
2. We confess to a taking of judicial notice of the population s
and building explosion in and around Stuart, Fort Pierce, ~
Hutchison Island and Nettles Island, the brokers trade ~
area referred to in the transcript. -
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