DEUT949 Some of the decisions in favor of restraints on competition were from the biblical commandment (Deuteronomy 19:14) against removing a neighbor’s landmark (the stones which served as the boundary markers between fields) -- hasagat g’vul. The sages queried the purpose of such an injunction, since the Torah had already forbidden theft, which hasagat g’vul is. They answered that this injunction taught that whoever annexed his neighbor’s domain in the land of Israel was guilty of two transgressions-- theft and hasagat g’vul. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Rotzeakh, chapter 12, halakhah 12, based on Mishnah, Avodah Zarah, chapter 1, mishnah 7. The rabbinic legislators following this broader application expanded the concept of hasagat g’vul to encroachment on another's livelihood. ... in most cases the limitation on encroaching on the livelihood of one's neighbor did not apply to those cases where such competition would lead only to a decline in profitability, but primarily to cases involving the total destruction of the other’s livelihood. Furthermore, the restriction was, as often as not, limited in time, in effect providing a “breathing space” until the market adjusted itself.