Standard terms in consumer contracts and language obscurity: a comparative law analysis

Consumer contracts account for more than ninety percent of all contracts in the world and can be considered standard contracts due to their structure and language. The strength of such contracts lies in the possibility of saving as much time as possible from the side of the contractor. Yet, consumer contracts present some issues as well, mostly linked to language. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed a light on the language obscurity of consumer contracts. This study analyses the vast literature and tries to understand the reason that lies behind the language issues of contracts. It is all examined from a comparative point of view, namely between Common Law and Civil Law. The first Chapter is dedicated to a conceptual overview of contracts and more specifically standard contracts. It is then followed by the second Chapter that outlines the different linguistic issues in Common Law consumer contracts. The main linguistic issues that emerge from this dissertation are archaisms, unilateral terms and conditions, fine printing, and boilerplate clauses. In the third Chapter the analysis is brought on the concept of consumer protection within the European Union. After defining the consumer policy of the EU and the problems of multilingualism, the attention is then drifted to the role of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive. Finally, in the fourth and final Chapter, a discussion is stimulated on the recent developments of language obscurity in consumer contracts between both judicial systems.