Abstract
Ecommerce has transformed the law of contract. Consumers are increasingly subject to myriads of conditions in shrink-wrap, box-wrap, click-wrap and browse-wrap contracts. Opening software wrapping or clicking “I agree” in a dialog box on a computer subjects the user to a series of onerous conditions that restrict end use and limit the supplier’s liability.
These developments are counterbalance by the growth of new market-savvy classes of consumers who are willing and able to sue brand name producers in class and other actions.
Faced with these Twenty First Century developments, courts struggle to find middle ground between regulating mass transactions in fairness to consumers and facilitating free commerce.
Analyzing adhesion contracts in light of the evolving law of unconscionability, this article proposes ways in which to regulate mass transactions while preserving a liberty of contract that is essential to a liberal democracy.
Disciplines
Contracts
Date of this Version
November 2007
Recommended Citation
Leon E. Trakman, "Adhesion Contracts and the Twenty First Century Consumer" (November 2007). University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Research Series. Working Paper 67.
http://law.bepress.com/unswwps-flrps/art67
Comments
This paper may also be referenced as [2007] UNSWLRS 67.