Law Commons^™

The Hidden Roles Of Boilerplate And Standard-Form Contracts: Strategic Imposition Of Transaction Costs, Segmentation Of Consumers, And Anticompetitive Effects, David Gilo, Ariel Porat

Michigan Law Review

Standard-form contracts offered to consumers contain numerous terms and clauses, most of which are ancillary to the main terms of the transaction. We call these ancillary terms "boilerplate provisions." Since most consumers do not read boilerplate provisions or, if they do, find them hard to understand, courts are suspicious of boilerplate provisions and sometimes find them unenforceable under the doctrine of unconscionability. At times, courts conclude that harsh terms have not been accepted by consumers in the first place and therefore are not included in the contract, and on other occasions courts interpret boilerplate provisions in favor of consumers, applying …

Trade Regulation-Robinson-Patman Act-Price Discrimination In The Marketing Of Gasoline, Howard R. Lurie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The emergence of chain stores and mail-order houses in the 1920's posed a new threat to competition; this time at the retail level. The quantity purchase discounts which large buyers could exact placed the small independent merchant at a competitive disadvantage so substantial as to cast doubt upon his continued presence in the competitive picture. To prevent these competitive advantages, which were felt to be unfair and undesirable, Congress, in 1936, passed the Robinson-Patman Act which, in part, amended section 2 of the Clayton Act. The effect of the amendment was to tighten the application of the quantity purchase defense …

Antitrust Policy In Distribution, Kendall B. Debevoise

Michigan Law Review

The American genius lies quite as much in distribution as in manufacturing. Other peoples have demonstrated equal or greater creative ability in many fields. And it is debatable whether their talents are any less at mass production given adequate economic demand. But they have nowhere shown the American genius for distribution. It is axiomatic that if you manufacture in Detroit and your potential customer lives in New York, you need mutual friends. We seem to have figured out better ways to provide better friends for this purpose than any other nation.

But manufacturing came first. Someone had to build a …

Regulation Of Business - Proof Of Seller's Costs In Robinson-Patman Act Buyer Proceedings, Arthur M. Wisehart S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The purposes of this comment are to analyze the holding of the Court in the Automatic Canteen case and to relate the language of the opinion to the more general problem of defining the extent of buyer responsibility under section 2(f). As a preliminary matter, however, it is necessary to examine the pertinent statutory provisions. Section 2(f) of the Robinson-Patman Act makes it unlawful for buyers in interstate commerce" ... knowingly to induce or receive a · discrimination in price which is prohibited by this section." In other words, it prohibits buyers from knowingly inducing or receiving the benefit of …

Regulation Of Business--Robinson-Patman Act--Defenses Of In Pari Delicto And Changed Market Conditions, William K. Davenport

Michigan Law Review

A group of businessmen in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, organized a boycott against all bread except that baked by plaintiff, the sole baker in Santa Rosa, to induce him not to move his bakery out of town; plaintiff agreed to this plan. Defendant, who sold in interstate commerce, thereupon halved his bread prices in Santa Rosa while maintaining them in other towns, in order to defeat the boycott and preserve the town as a market. Plaintiff brought an action for treble damages under section 2(a) of the Robinson-Patman Act for injuries suffered from this price discrimination. The federal district court …

Robinson-Patman Act--Validity Of Functional Discounts, Charles Myneder S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Robinson-Patman Act was an effort by Congress to rid the business community of unfair pricing practices. Since the act did not expressly refer to functional discounts, the continuing legality of their usage was an open question. It is the purpose of this comment to measure the extent to which the trade discount has been affected by the act as interpreted by the Federal Trade Commission and the courts.