6. Exemption Clauses and Unfair Terms

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-230
Author(s):  
Jack Beatson ◽  
Andrew Burrows ◽  
John Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Trade Association ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Legislative Control ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
Special Rules ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Statutory Control

This chapter discusses the common law and statutory rules governing exemption clauses, and the control of unfair terms. Written contracts frequently contain clauses excluding or limiting liability. This is particularly so in the case of ‘standard form’ documents drawn up by one of the parties or a trade association to which one of the parties belong. At common law there are special rules on the incorporation of exemption clauses, special rules of construction applicable to them, and a few miscellaneous other common law rules designed to control them. The chapter first considers those common law rules before going on to the legislative control of exemption clauses and unfair terms. The focus of the discussion of statutory control is the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 for non-consumer contracts, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for consumer contracts.

8. Terms of the contract II: common law and statutory controls on unfair terms

2020 ◽  
pp. 198-227
Author(s):  
Janet O’Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Standard Terms

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter examines potentially unfair terms, including exemption clauses, in a contract. It considers the common law’s response to exemption clauses and other potentially unfair terms, and discusses statutory schemes to regulate them. It covers the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) which governs exemption clauses in non-consumer contracts, subjecting them to a requirement of reasonableness where the contract was made on standard terms. It also discusses in detail the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA), which imposes a test of fairness on terms in consumer contracts, apart from the core terms.

The Emperor's Old Clauses: Unincorporated Clauses, Misleading Terms and the Unfair terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Director General ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unfair Terms

CONSUMERS frequently do not know of their rights and are unwilling to litigate. The powers of the Director General of Fiar Trading under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994 will often provide more effective protection for the consumer than common law rules. The powers are pre-emptive and enable unfair terms to be removed from standard form contracts, so that consumers simply cease to encounter such terms. Some protection may be provided for consumers by common law rules which allow a finding that clauses are not incorporated or that they do not have the legal effect which they may appear to the consumer to have. However, without knowledge or a willingness to litigate, consumers may be misled by such clauses and terms as to the legal rights generated aand they will not then be able to enjoy their rights to the full. This article examines the extent to which the powers of the Director General can be used to protect consumers from such misleading clauses and terms. It considers the interaction of the Regulations and the common law, the scope of the Regulations, and the application of the Regulation's test of fairness.

9. Exemption clauses

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Macdonald ◽  
Ruth Atkins ◽  
Jens Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
Unfair Terms

This chapter begins the discussion of unfair terms. It deals with the common law rules relating to exemption clauses, and introduces the problems, as well as the benefits of standard form contracts. It looks at the common law rules dealing with incorporation and construction (interpretation) generally, and their use by the courts to deal with unfair exemption clauses, and the evolution of the use of such approaches in the light of legislative policing. In particular, it deals with incorporation by signature, notice (including the ‘red hand rule’), and a course of dealing, and looks at construction post-UCTA (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977), and post-Investors, including the Canada Steamship rules and the distinction between limitation and exclusion clauses. The tension between freedom of contract and protecting the party with weaker bargaining power is emphasized. The chapter addresses how the Consumer Rights Act 2015 has impacted the law.

8. Terms of the contract II: common law and statutory controls on unfair terms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet O’Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Standard Terms

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter examines unfair terms and exemption clauses in a contract. It considers the common law’s response to unfair terms and exemption clauses and discusses statutory schemes to regulate them. It covers the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) which governs exemption clauses in non-consumer contracts, subjecting them to a requirement of reasonableness where the contract was made on standard terms. It also discusses in detail the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA), which imposes a test of fairness on terms in consumer contracts, apart from the core terms.

Koffman & Macdonald's Law of Contract

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Macdonald ◽  
Ruth Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Undue Influence ◽  
Business Travel ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
Ninth Edition ◽  
Trust Company ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Business Exchange

Koffman & Macdonald’s Law of Contract provides a clear, academically rigorous, account of the contract law which is written in a style which makes it highly accessible to university students new to legal study. It works from extensive consideration of the significant cases, to provide students with a firm grounding in the way the common law functions. There are chapters on formation, certainty, consideration, promissory estoppel, intention to create legal relations, express and implied terms, classification of terms, the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts, mistake, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence, illegality, unconscionability, privity, performance and breach, frustration, damages, and specific enforcement, as well as companion website chapters on capacity and an outline of the law of restitution. Many new cases and legislative developments are covered in the ninth edition, such as Armchair Answercall Ltd v People in Mind Ltd, Blue v Ashley, Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi, ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis,Globalia Business Travel S.A.U. (formerly TravelPlan S.A.U.) of Spain v Fulton Shipping Inc of Panama, Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd,MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd, Patel v Mirza, Phones 4U Ltd (In Administration) v EE Ltd. This edition has been updated to include major legislative developments including the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which now encompasses, and makes some changes to, the unfair terms regime, which was previously provided by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, as well as removing, and taking on board, the consumer elements of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

scholarly journals Contracting out of Access to Justice: Enforcement of Forum-Selection Clauses in Consumer Contracts

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-440
Author(s):  
Marina Pavlović
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Contracting Out ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
Substantive Justice ◽  
The Common ◽  
Consumer Relationships

Forum-selection agreements in consumer contracts nominate by default the business’s home jurisdiction to resolve disputes and thus directly impact a consumer’s ability not only to access courts, but also to obtain access to substantive justice. It has been argued that courts should consider enforcing jurisdiction clauses in consumer contracts with “greater scrutiny” because of their inherent power imbalance. To examine how the courts approach forum-selection clauses in consumer contracts, this article analyzed all reported consumer cases involving forum-selection agreements in Canadian common law jurisdictions between 1995 and 2016. The analysis of these cases shows that the courts have failed to exercise the greater scrutiny that was called for. In light of the analysis of the surveyed cases, this article argues that the rules for enforcing forum-selection clauses in consumer contracts ought to be recalibrated to reflect the power dynamics of consumer relationships, the ubiquity of standard-form contracts, and their effect on consumers’ ability to obtain redress. This article proposes two suggestions for reform: legislative intervention to invalidate forum-selection clauses in consumer agreements, and reframing and recalibrating the common law strong-cause test for the enforcement of forum-selection clauses in consumer transactions.

6. Exemption clauses and unfair contract terms

2021 ◽  
pp. 120-141
Author(s):  
Jill Poole ◽  
James Devenney ◽  
Adam Shaw-Mellors
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Critical Test ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Legislative Regulation ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the use and enforceability of exemption clauses (total exclusion or limitation of liability clauses inserted into contracts) and their legislative regulation. Whereas the regulation of such clauses is limited to the common law and UCTA 1977 in the case of commercial contracts (B2B), in the case of consumer contracts (B2C) the law intervenes to control a broader category of terms, ‘unfair contract terms’ (Consumer Rights Act 2015) with the critical test being ‘unfairness’.

13. Controlling contract terms

Contract Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 371-403
Author(s):  
TT Arvind
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Liquidated Damages ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Formal Requirements ◽  
Statutory Regulation

This chapter examines how the law regulates contract terms, with particular emphasis on rules that are intended to protect weaker parties. It begins with a discussion of the limits of freedom of contract and proceeds by assessing the role played by formal requirements, such as the requirement that contracts be in writing. It then considers how the law regulates contract terms which seek to alter the liability that one party will have in the event of breach. More specifically, it looks at exclusion clauses in the common law and the statutory regulation of such clauses, along with liquidated damages, contractual remedies, and the rule against penalties. It also explores the extent to which consumer protection law restricts the terms that can be included in consumer contracts, especially when dealing with the problem of unfair terms.

Brownsword, R and Howells, G, ‘The implementation of the EC Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts – some unresolved questions’ [1995] JBL 243. Brownsword, R, Howells, G and Wilhelmsson, T (eds), Welfarism in Contract, 1994, Aldershot: Dartmouth. Burrows, A, (ed), Essays on the Law of Restitution, 1991, Oxford: Clarendon. Burrows, A, The Law of Restitution, 1993, London: Butterworths. Burrows, A, Understanding the Law of Obligations, 1998, Oxford: Hart. Burrows, A, ‘Free acceptance and the law of restitution’ (1988) 104 LQR 576. Carr, C, ‘Lloyd’s Bank Ltd v Bundy’ (1975) 38 MLR 463. Cheshire, G, Fifoot, C and Furmston, M, Law of Contract, 13th edn, 1996, London: Butterworths/Tolley. Chitty (Guest, AG (ed)), Contracts: General Principles, 27th edn, 1994, London: Sweet & Maxwell. Coase, R, ‘The problem of social cost’ (1960) 3 Journal of Law and Economics 1. Collins, H, Law of Contract, 3rd edn, 1997, London: Butterworths. Collins, H, ‘Good faith in European contract law’ (1994) OJLS 229. Cooke, PJ and Oughton, DW, The Common Law of Obligations, 3rd edn, 2000, London: Butterworths. Coote, B, Exception Clauses, 1964, London: Sweet & Maxwell. Coote, B, ‘The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977’ (1978) 41 MLR 312. De Lacey, J, ‘Selling in the course of a business under the Sale of Goods Act 1979’ (1999) 62 MLR 776. Dean, M, ‘Unfair contract terms – the European approach’ (1993) 56 MLR 581. Duffy, P, ‘Unfair terms and the draft EC Directive’ (1993) JBL 67. Evans, A, ‘The Anglo-American mailing rule’ (1966) 15 ICLQ 553. Fehlberg, B, ‘The husband, the bank, the wife and her signature – the sequel’ (1996) 59 MLR 675.

1995 ◽  
pp. 808-808
Keyword(s):  
Law And Economics ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Unfair Terms

13. Controlling contract terms

Contract Law ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
TT Arvind
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Liquidated Damages ◽  
Consumer Contracts ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law ◽  
Unfair Terms ◽  
Formal Requirements ◽  
Statutory Regulation

This chapter examines how the law regulates contract terms, with particular emphasis on rules that are intended to protect weaker parties. It begins with a discussion of the limits of freedom of contract and proceeds by assessing the role played by formal requirements, such as the requirement that contracts be in writing. It then considers how the law regulates contract terms which seek to alter the liability that one party will have in the event of breach. More specifically, it looks at exclusion clauses in the common law and the statutory regulation of such clauses, along with liquidated damages, contractual remedies, and the rule against penalties. It also explores the extent to which consumer protection law restricts the terms that can be included in consumer contracts, especially when dealing with the problem of unfair terms.

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