Reversible inhibition of the hydrolysis of O-hippuryl-L-3-phenyllactic acid by carboxypeptidase A has been studied for a series of decarboxylic acids at 25°, pH 7.5, and ionic strength 0.2. All inhibitors studied displayed either strictly competitive or partially competitive inhibition kinetics. For the series CO2H(CH2)nCO2H, strictly competitive inhibition was observed for n = 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, whereas partially competitive inhibition occurs for n = 2, 5, 6, 7. A series of 11 alkyl- and aryl-substituted malonic acids were all strictly competitive inhibitors; for a series of six alkylmalonic acids the inhibition constants are correlated with the Hansch π-parameter by the equation –log K1 = 2.257π + 1.75; arylmalonic acids are poorer inhibitors than expected on the basis of their π-parameters, in accord with a similar observation for monocarboxylic acids. Phthalic acid is a strictly competitive inhibitor (K1 = 1.7 mM), whereas the isomeric isophthalic and terephthalic acids cause relatively little inhibition even at 0.1 M; maleic acid is a partially competitive inhibitor, whereas the isomeric fumaric acid gives only 15% inhibition at 0.1 M. Homophthalic acid and 2,2-dimethyl- and 3,3-dimethylglutaric acids were also investigated.The characteristics of partially competitive inhibition displayed by all dicarboxylic acids and also monomethyl succinate and succinamic acid are consistent with a scheme which assumes the formation of an E.I2 complex. The observed specificity of dicarboxylic acid binding is used to postulate a schematic diagram for binding of these species to the enzyme, and an interpretation of this diagram is suggested on the basis of the crystallographically determined structure of the enzyme.