Consumer Law in the UK - Case Study Example

Consumer Law Introduction There are three consumer laws in UK such as English law, Northern law, and Scottish law. These laws vary from each other in practice. Like any other laws Consumer law has two ways law such as judges made law, which is also known as case law, and the Statue law made by Parliament. Judge made law is the law decided by the Judges while pronouncing the judgments in deferent cases in different circumstances. The judges while dealing with different cases make some guidelines in adjudication of the offence. Statue law is the basic law, which is superior to the judge made law. Judges are confined to the law made by the parliament they are to interpret the law according to the context of the case and decide keeping the spirit of the statute Law intact. Since statue law is precise and fundamental it cannot see the roots of the case, therefore the judge made law makes these gaps in deciding the cases in the interest of justice. Consumer law in UK is of 30 years old. It developed as the years passed on. It is now having substantial number of Acts and Regulations to provide the justice to the consumers. Due to the electronic revolution and increased competition and improved marketing system the consumers face a lot of hardships and are subjected to cheating and undue inducements. To protect them from these hardships the consumer laws are expanded to meet requirements. These consumer laws are made so simple and so logical that there is no ambiguity in understanding these laws even by a common man. And the relief it provides is as that what a man of ordinary prudence think with regard to the trader and what he feels just and reasonable. If any trader gives a wrong goods than what you ordered a common man says the price of such goods need not be paid. This is exactly what consumer law also says. Still the knowledge of consumer law is important since it gives more than what customer thinks deserved to get from a trader. In the above example a person without any legal knowledge thinks he need not pay for the product but consumer law says more that he deserves an extra amount from the trader as compensation. Consumer law protects the customers from the negligence, irresponsibility and wrong doings by the traders and there by makes consumers suffer. When can we say that the trader is at fault We can say that they at fault when they do not follow the law relating to the trade and they do not pay adequate attention to the consumer's needs and when they follow the unfair trade practices to gain undue profits at the cost of consumers etc. There are statues and laws made to regulate the trade such laws are Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as am emended), Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Other laws which are also known as consumer laws and which the consumer shall have a minimum and basic knowledge about them to safeguard themselves. These laws will be discussed later in this issue. These statues lay down principles that the traders should follow and all the traders are to abide by this law. Sale of goods Act prescribes certain conditions that good sold shall comply such as quality, quantity, time etc to the satisfaction of the consumers. Sale of goods act is also a contract which mutual agreement between the customer and the trader. The trader is bound to supply the agreed quality, quantity within the agreed period of time. Simultaneously the customer is also bound to pay the amount as agreed once the trader performs his part of agreement. If any defect in the product is made known to the customer and the customer agrees to buy with the defect then later he cannot take shelter of defect in the goods and pray for compensation or exempted from payment of the price. The burden of proof of the trader's failure or wrong is always lies on the customer except in specific condition such as where the trader gives guarantee of the goods of its life and the product does not lost for the guartee time in this condition it is the trader to prove that the product has fulfilled its guaranteed period etc. In every business time is the essence. Here also the any damage is to be claimed it is to be claimed with in the reasonable time or within the prescribed period if any. Otherwise the right to compensation or refund is lost in law. Supply of services: Consumer law includes Supply of Services. Supply of services is regulated by 'Supply of Goods and Services Act, 1982. I means and included Supply of services such as services of plumbers, builders, dentists, restaurants, hairdressers, and other allied services, which are offered to the customers in exchange of consideration. This Act also puts strict liability on the trader for non-supply wrong supply or negligence in supply etc., of these services. If goods or services supplied are not in accordance with the specification of the contract the consumer is allowed for not only the replacement or repair at free of cost he is also entitled for refund and compensation. Other civil laws: The other civil laws which are also connected to consumer laws are Unfair Contract Terms Act, 1977 which protects the consumer when they enter in to contract which contains an unfair and unreasonable terms and conditions which adversely affect the consumers. Consumer Protection Act, 1987. This law provides relief to the customers in the form compensation for death, injury, damage, loss, destruction and deterioration of goods caused due to the defect in service or goods supplied by the trader. This law also imposes strict liability on the traders against any loss. Any claim against the death or injury needs legal aid before seeking relief from the court of law. The Consumer Protection (Cancellation of Contracts Concluded away from Business Premises) Regulations 1987: these are the regulation dealing with cancellation of contracts made via the sales men at our doorsteps. These contracts are induced the uninvited. These regulations provide the period of time within which the consumers can cancel their contracts entered in accordance with the above. The time limit is seven days. Consumer Protection (distance selling) regulations protect the consumers from falling into the trap of the traders by forced trade. According these regulation if any trader sends unsolicited goods and You accept it as an unconditional gift, the traders is barred from enforcing you to pay for the goods and he is stopped from tanking any legal action or exercising any threat. Though the major portion of consumer law is of civil in nature the consumers are also protected under criminal law in specific circumstances. The fundamental principle of criminal law is that the alleged crime is to be proved beyond doubt. This principle applies to consumer criminal law also. Trade Descriptions Act 1968 is the most important law of such nature. This law protects from false description of goods and services either verbal or written advertisements that lead to the damage to the consumers in either form of description. When such criminal action of the trader is proved beyond doubt then he/she is liable for either penalty, or imprisonment or both according the severity of the offence. The Consumer Credit Act: This act protects the consumers from companies that provide credit facilities against their undue and unfair practice in providing the credit facilities. Advance payment of commission to solicitor held not regulated by Consumer Credit Act 1974 McMillan Williams v Range(Unreported, 23 February 2004, CA) Dimond v Lovell [2000] 1 QB 216; [2002] 1 AC 384 Fisher v Raven [1964] AC 21 Nejad v City Index Ltd [2001] GCCR 2461 Enforcing the law: Enforcement of consumer law is vested in the hands of consumer. He has to meticulously think while implementing these laws. The remedial action of the any sufferings of the consumers lies right from traders up to the civil or criminal courts. A wise customer will exhaust all his remedies before he approaches the court of law. The customer should know that the approaching the court is the final resort and ultimate. He should consider the monitory values and time etc. The customer should be aware of his rights and as well as liabilities arising out his contract in procurement of goods and services. Frivolous and vexatious claims are to be avoided completely. Advise to Ava on her legal rights against Celebrations and the remedies available to her. Ava has the following issues: 1. She received faded napkins, which can be said as defect in goods. 2. She received the balloons with wordings "Happy 40th Birthday" where as she wanted with a wording "Happy 40Th Wedding Anniversary". 3. At the party one of the guests suffers a violently swelled face after biting into a cake and has to be taken to casualty. 1. Ava received faded napkins, which can be said as defect in goods. Ava has no right against this deficiency since, The shop assistant explains that they are a little below the usual standard, the defect is known to the Ava at the time of booking the goods and she accepted to purchase with that defect. The consumer laws say 'if any defect in the product is made known to the customer and the customer agrees to buy with the defect then later he can not take shelter of defect in the goods and pray for compensation or exempted from payment of the price'. 2. Ava received the balloons with wordings "Happy 40th Birthday" where as she wanted with a wording "Happy 40Th Wedding Anniversary. She has legal right for damages and compensation since she is supplied with goods other than which she ordered. At the time of booking the labeling on the packaging states that these carry the wording "Happy Wedding Anniversary." The balloons supplied are contrary to the agreement of sale. She can also claim for compensation since she was put in an embraced position at the last moment and subjected to psychological pressure. As per section 14 of Sale and supply of goods Act 1994, that applies 'to goods sold under contract of sale' provides that goods sold under the contract of sale must be of the satisfactory quality which includes the fitness for all purpose for which the goods of that quality are commonly supplied. Fitness means, where buyer specifically and expressly tells to the seller the purpose of use of the goods and the seller sells such goods in the course of business. This part of the provision is decided in the case of "Ashington Piggeries v. Christopher Hill Ltd" 3. At the party one of the guests suffers a violently swelled face after biting into a cake and has to be taken to casualty. Ava can not refuse to pay for all the food items she purchased from the shop Ava has a legal right for damages against the supplier only in respect of cake, provided she proves that the cake contains the nuts. She warned the supplier only that the cake should not contain nuts since one of the guests has a nut allergy. At the party one of the guests suffers a violently swelled face after biting into a cake and has to be taken to casualty can not be taken as conclusive proof that the cake contained the nuts, a natural doubt arises that there may be some other reasons unless until it is proved contrary. If she can prove to her advantage she can not only claim refund for the price of cake but also claim a compensation of full amount spent on treatment also for the personal sufferings. Advise to Huddersfax Gallery as to the remedies it can pursue in respect of Ava's non-payment for the painting. The contract of sale between Ava and Huddersfax Gallery appears to be that credit sale. Huddersfax Gallery agreed to sell the painting at 300. The terms of payment are she would pay 50 at the time of booking as deposit and balance of amount in full within seven days. In this Ava is the defaulter and she is liable to pay the balance of amount as agreed in writing. Since she failed to pay the balance amount she committed a breach of contract. The Huddersfax Gallery has legal rights against Ava to recover the balance amount with interest from the due to till the payment. It is a specific performance of contract. The legal remedies for both Ava and Huddersfax Gallery lies with opposite parties and the civil courts. Before they approach to the court they shall exhaust the remedies of placing a claim with the opposite parties for the recovery of the claim. If the opposite parties fail to comply and accept the claim or both the parties to conflict do not come to a compromise then the civil suit lies with the civil courts. Bibliography www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/guides_to/consumerlaw/ www.kaltons.co.uk/articles/104.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_protection#Commonwealth_nations www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/saleandsupply.htm http://www.legal500.com/devs/uk/cs/current.htm --------------------------------------------------- Books referred: 1. Good Faith in European Contract Law (Page 199) (Reinhard Zimmermann, Simon Whittaker, Mauro Bussani, Ugo Mattei, Rodolfo Sacco, Rudolf B Schlesinger)Cambridge University Press Jun 8, 2000 2. Read More