"What the Government is seeking to do is to punish conduct that reasonable people might agree deserves the sanctions of the criminal law."

And it had left him subject to a new W.T.C. rule that punishes such conduct with a suspension, a fine, or both.

"In prosecuting Small, the government is enforcing a domestic criminal statute to punish domestic criminal conduct."

"This is a criminal prosecution brought by the United States in its sovereign capacity to punish domestic criminal conduct," he said.

A committee advising the British Parliament recommended in 1957 repeal of laws punishing homosexual conduct.

The purpose of sanctions is to punish conduct by people in court proceedings.

Given its breadth, the ordinance would give the city the power to punish conduct which would otherwise be constitutionally protected.

"That is because our law, our criminal statutes punish conduct based on state of mind," Judge Mariano said.

"There is no law, so far as we know of, to punish such conduct directly," a police spokesman said.

The antitrust laws are written to punish conduct, not to generate desired outcomes in markets, Ms. Bingaman said.