Aiming to provide a clear and digestible introduction to the central areas of commercial law, this text sets out each topic in a self-contained, annotated section. Coverage includes: fundamentals of sale of goods contracts; law governing agency relationships; and consumer credit agreements.

The rules presented in this volume of the "Principles of European Law" deal with sales contracts. The sales contact has served as the paradigm for contracts in general. Moreover, it is also probably the most common contract, and certainly the most common consumer contract, that there is. In fact, sales come in all shapes and sizes: ranging from the purchase of the daily newspaper at the news-stand or the groceries in the supermarket, through to the purchase of a new car and to commodity sales on highly specialised markets. Furthermore, there are many mixed transactions that contain a certain element of sale, such as distribution contracts or all sorts or manufacturing contracts.

Is there a place for examination and notification duties in consumer sales law? According to Dutch law, there is. Other countries, such as England or Germany, oppose this view. It is therefore only fair to ask why the consumer should actually lose his rights in the event of lack of conformity of the goods if he has failed to lodge his complaint within a reasonable time. This book finds that functional arguments relating to such cut-off duties are not convincing. When introducing such duties into consumer sales law, one fails to look critically at the rationale that originated in the realm of commercial sales law. It therefore can be concluded that the answer to above question is necessarily a political one. As long as certain minimum requirements of consumer protection are not left out of consideration, there is nothing wrong with such a political choice that may well be different in different countries.