This unique book tells the story of the coming of age of EU consumer law, a legal domain that hasn't ceased to expand in depth and scope during the last 20 years. However, this book has not been conceived by the editors as an exercise in nostalgia. The contributions offer ample food for thought about the challenges awaiting consumer law in the years to come. The selected cases in this book are therefore without exception landmark decisions. What this volume doesn't offer however, is an exhaustive overview of EU consumer law jurisprudence. It doesn't aspire to be a textbook covering all aspects of consumer law. Rather, the authors have approached the cases - some of which have been commented upon quite extensively in legal doctrine already - from a novel and personal perspective, sometimes coloured by the contributor's particular background, concerns and interest. Very often, the cases have been used as a point of departure to point out a development in EU and / or national consumer law. The result of the contributors' efforts does not only read as splendid anthology but it will be read and continued to be read by anyone interested in EU consumer law --

This book analyses the history of the common law foundations of consumer law, and encourages readers to rethink the role that consumer law plays in our society. Consumer law is often constructed as purely statute-based law. However – as this collection will demonstrate – this is far from the truth. Much of the history of the common law concerns consumer transactions and markets. Case law has often established or modified the ground rules of consumer markets, has had a patterning effect on the economic organisation of markets, and has expressed cultural visions of the market and consumers. An analysis of landmark cases of consumer law allows many traditional cases to be viewed through a new and distinct lens, providing significant academic and intellectual value. The collection also includes a unique socio-legal perspective, considering the role that consumer law has played in addressing racial discrimination, LGBTQ challenges and the rights of women. This collection of landmark cases demonstrates the theoretical and practical significance of consumer law through a wide range of contributions by distinguished authors from the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Australia.

This edited volume covers the challenges currently faced by consumer law in Europe and the United States, ranging from fundamental theoretical questions, such as what goals consumer law should pursue, to practical questions raised by disclosure requirements, the General Data Protection Regulation and technology advancements. With governments around the world enacting powerful new regulations concerning consumers, consumer law has become an important topic in the economic analysis of law. Intended to protect consumers, these regulations typically seek to do so by giving them tools to make better decisions, or by limiting the consequences of their bad decisions. Legal scholars are divided, however, regarding the efficacy and effects of these regulations; some call for certain policies to be abolished, while others support a regulatory expansion.

In Rethinking EU Consumer Law, the authors analyse the development of EU consumer law on the basis of a number of clear themes, which are then traced through specific areas. Recurring themes include the artificiality of the EU’s consumer image, the problems created by the drive towards maximum harmonisation, and the unexpected effects EU Consumer Law has had on national law. The book argues that EU Consumer Law has the potential of enhancing the protecting of consumers throughout the EU and could offer a model for consumer law elsewhere in the world, but in order to unlock this potential, there needs to be a rethink with regard to the EU’s approach to consumer law and policy.

This book asks what is European consumer access to justice, and how we can improve it by means of procedural and substantive laws?

This new addition to Hart's acclaimed Landmark Cases series is a diverse and engaging edited collection bringing together eminent commentators from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, to analyse cases of enduring significance to privacy law. The book tackles the conceptual nature of privacy in its various guises, from data protection, to misuse of private information, and intrusion into seclusion. It explores the practical issues arising from questions about the threshold of actionability, the function of remedies, and the nature of damages. The cases selected are predominantly English but include cases from the United States (because of the formative influence of United States' privacy jurisprudence on the development of privacy law), Australia, Canada, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights. Each chapter considers the reception and application (and, in some instances, rejection) outside of the jurisdiction where the case was decided.

This new edition continues to provide a critical introduction to the legal regulation of consumer markets, situating it within the context of broader debates about rationales for regulation, the role of the state and the growth of neo-liberalism. It draws on interdisciplinary sources, assessing, for example, the increased influence of behavioural economics on consumer law. It analyses the Europeanisation of consumer law and the tensions between neo-liberalism and the social market, consumer protection and consumer choice, in the establishment of the single market ground rules. The book also assesses national, regional and international responses to the world financial crisis as reflected in the regulation of consumer credit markets. This edition incorporates recent legislative and judicial developments of the law, blending substantial extracts from primary UK, EU and international legal materials.