What Does The Se In Per Se Mean?

Per Se basically is a Latin phrase generally applied in English arguments for "through itself". The expression illegal per se basically means inherently illegal. Hence, an act is against the law without extrinsic proof of any surrounding circumstances like a scienter or other defences.

Quiet a few drunken driving laws make driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 per cent or higher an act which is unlawful per se. In America, unlawful per se generally refers to types of anticompetitive behaviour in antitrust law decisively assumed to be an "unreasonable restrain on trade", and hence anticompetitive. Over the period years the United States Supreme Court, has determined acts like price fixing, retail price maintenance, geographic market division, group boycotts, etc as tying arrangements to be unlawful per se.