Regulation through boilerplate : an apologia /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Ben-Shahar, Omri, author.
Imprint:[Chicago, Illinois] : Law School, University of Chicago, 2013.
Description:1 online resource (24 pages).
Language:English
Series:Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics working paper ; no. 640 (2d series)
Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics working paper ; no. 640.
Subject:Standardized terms of contract -- United States.
Consumer protection -- Law and legislation -- United States.
Consumer contracts -- United States.
Consumer contracts.
Consumer protection -- Law and legislation.
Standardized terms of contract.
United States.
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/9854554
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other uniform titles:Review of (work): Radin, Margaret Jane. Boilerplate.
Notes:"April 2013."
Includes bibliographical references.
Title from online title page (viewed January 24, 2014).
Summary:"This essay reviews Margaret Jane Radin's Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, And The Rule Of Law (Princeton Press, 2013). It responds to two of the book's principal complaints against boilerplate consumer contracts: that they modify people's rights without true agreement to, or even minimal knowledge of, their terms; and that the provisions they unilaterally enact are substantively intolerable. I argue, counter-intuitively, that contracts with long fine prints are no more complex and baffling to consumers than any alternative boilerplate-free templates of contracting. Therefore, there is no alternative universe in which consumers enter simpler contracts better informed of the legal terms. In addition, I argue that any policy that mandates consumer-friendlier arrangements (such as ones that eliminate boilerplate arbitration clauses, warranty disclaimers, or data collection) would hurt consumers in an unintended but potentially costly way."