Consumer Law Policy
Faculty
Description
In the two, main fields of Consumer Law, there have been promulgated a considerable number of statutes in recent years; for example, as regards consumer safety, Product Liability Law of 1994 and other numerous, new de-regulation oriented legislations on products safety on the one hand and as regards consumer contracts, Consumer Contract Law of 2000 and Law relating to Specific Commercial Transactions of 2000 on the other. They signify partly a restatement of case law developments in these areas but at the same time they have some indication of having been influenced by the governmental policy for de-regulation and privatization. In this course, I would like to analyze the laws in action as well as the characteristics of these statutes themselves from various viewpoints including law, economics and history and also to argue, with hopefully studious students of both law school and of public policy, the meanings of those laws in the present society in Japan and in the world. Students participating in should present a talk at class and prepare a paper till the end of the term on one of the topics which will be listed and explained at class.