Combination.

Combination. A combination to commit a crime is, in English law, an indictable Conspiracy (q.v.). A combination to commit an act which is injurious, immoral, or contrary to public policy, is in some but not in all cases held to amount to conspiracy. Combinations of workmen to raise the rate of wages were formerly unlawful; but the law was amended in this respect in 1825, and now such combinations are freely permitted, provided they effect their purposes by lawful means. See CONSPIRACY and TRADE-UNIONS.—For LAW OF COMBINATIONS, in CHEMISTRY, see ATOMIC THEORY, CHEMISTRY; for COMBINATIONS, in Mathematics, see PERMUTATIONS.