This article develops a new theoretical framework for understanding consumer contract law, one based on competing ethics of self-interest/reliance and need. It shows how this is a better way of understanding choices as to levels of protection than the traditional “freedom versus fairness” framework. The self-interest/reliance ethic favours rules allowing traders to use processes to escape responsibility for poor quality and harsh outcomes, while the need ethic is concerned with consumer weaknesses and better protects against such outcomes. The article also shows that need-based rules are usually more effective at improving clarity and certainty, and where such rules cause uncertainty, at least as much uncertainty is caused by the alternative self-interest/reliance-based rules.

中文翻译：

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重新理论化消费者法

本文为理解消费者合同法建立了一个新的理论框架，该框架基于自我利益/依赖和需求的竞争伦理。它表明，与传统的“自由与公平”框架相比，这是一种更好的方式来理解保护级别的选择。自利/依赖伦理倾向于允许交易者使用流程来逃避对质量差和恶劣结果的责任的规则，而需求伦理则关注消费者的弱点并更好地防止此类结果。该文章还表明，基于需求的规则通常更有效地提高清晰度和确定性，并且在此类规则导致不确定性的情况下，至少与基于自利/依赖的替代规则一样多的不确定性。