Rowing Commitment toward the Legal Provisions and Norms of Contract Law - Essay Example

5 June Consumer Law Introduction The 21st century has been marked with the growing commitment toward thelegal provisions and norms of contract law. Consumer protection has become the definitive feature of free markets. Governments and consumer protection authorities monitor the activity of buyers and suppliers. Property rights and consumer safety represent the cluster of legal meanings and definitions which govern market and legal decisions in sales. Under the pressure of consumer protection needs, a new market theory of contract was developed. The market theory of contract governs and regulates free sales of goods, unfair goods and regulations, and consumer protection, and exemplifies a reasonable force of the government intervention in free market relations. Goldring is correct in that the law usually reflects the spirit of people who design it (1). Consumer protection and contract law is, probably, the best representation of the specific features and peculiarities of the markets and consumers whose law it is. Consumerism has already become the leading free market trend: consumer satisfaction is the key to sustained market and business success. However, suppliers alone cannot always guarantee the fairness of their relationships with consumers – as a result, consumer protection law turns into a reasonable force of external intervention in free market relations. It should be noted, that the first rules of tort and contract law later to become the basis of the modern consumer protection law were born in England during the era which was dramatically different from postmodern global markets (Goldring 1). Those rules were designed to accommodate the needs of suppliers/ merchants and by the end of the 18th century, those laws took a form which would later become codified as The Sale of Goods Act (Goldring 1). The discussed rules set the stage for the development of sound consumer protection laws, based on the principles of equality between trade parties (Goldring 2). With time, the basic rules of free market conduct for merchants grew into a complex set of regulations for the common consumers and the new market theory of contract appeared. The so-called market theory of contract comprises a number of elements and principles which are common for all merchants and consumers. These include consumer right for safety, honesty, fair agreements, the right to know, to choose, the right to privacy and the right to correct abuses, as well as the right to be heard (Golding 3). Written in simple terms, all these rights found their place in the modern system of the tort and contract law in England. Today, the market theory of contracts is based on the same principles and positions contract as the invisible hand that rules free market relationships between suppliers and sellers. It would be correct to say that “contract law has been the bedrock of capitalism for as long as there has been capitalism. By enabling free choice, meaningful contracts maximize economic efficiency” (Indiviglio). The tort and contract law in England does not simply provide consumers with the basic set of rights but seeks to erase the persistent inequality between merchants and buyers that used to characterize free markets for years. In this sense, free markets are not completely free but operate within the limits imposed on them by the law. The basic aims of consumer protection law include (a) the prescription of standards for selling/ buying goods and services; (b) establishment of the system to receive, analyze, and act upon consumer complaints and to assist consumers in pursuing these complaints; (c) prohibition of conduct that which violates consumer rights or impedes consumers from using their rights; (d) regulation of contracts and agreements between consumers and suppliers (a whole agreement or its specified parts); (e) dissemination of information about the rights of consumers with regard to particular services and goods and the ways of exercising these rights; and (f) licensing (Golding 7). Today, the market theory of contracts positions contracts as not simply a document that is binding for the consumer and the supplier but which is an element of a complex system of rights and obligations, which the parties must follow to remain the members of each particular markets. For example, as economies are moving to acquire the free market status, property rights and ownership are becoming the basic issues of the legal and economic concern. As a result, contracts are becoming the only force that can institutionalize the private and public rights of owners and guarantee effective allocation of resources between them (Keenan 35). Today, two essential aspects of contract formation deserve attention. These include an offer and acceptance. “An offer is an expression of any party’s willingness to make a contract with the intention that the contract will become binding for all parties as soon as they accept the offer” (Keenan 44). Offers differ much from the mere invitations of willingness, which can manifest through a variety of forms, including auctions, advertisements, display of goods, or mere statements of price. For example, in case of Gibson v Manchester Country Council (1979), Manchester City Council developed a policy of selling council houses to its tenants. The respondent “received a letter from the Council stating that the latter may be prepared to sell the house to him at £2,180” (Keenan 57). On March 5, the respondent turned the filled application form to buy the house and on the 18th of March requested the Council to carry out the purchase in accordance with the application (Keenan 57). However, before the contract was made, the political situation in the Council changed and the council members took a decision to proceed with sales only where contracts had already been made. The court held that “a request for tenders is only an invitation to treat and each tender is an offer. The requestor is free to accept or reject any tender to purchase goods, even if it is the highest bid” (Keenan 58). The second aspect of contract formation is acceptance, and to create a binding contract, the terms of acceptance must match the offer; only few exceptions can result in the creation of a contract without matching offer and acceptance (Contract Law Page). Conclusion The modern state of tort and contract law dates back to the times when England sought to protect its merchants from unfair and illegal conduct and to create conditions of sale and purchase that would be binding for all parties of the contract. With time, the law evolved to protect mass consumers and to provide them with the sufficient set of market rights. Today, the market theory of contract positions the latter as the tool of protecting consumers from the unfair merchants’ conduct. Works Cited Goldring, J. Consumer Protection Law. Federation Press, 1998. Indiviglio, D. “A Free Market Needs Free Contracts”, The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 20 January 2010. Web. 5 June 2010. Keenan, D.J. Smith & Keenan’s English law: Text and Cases. Pearson Education, 2007. Read More