Dear Colleagues:

Those of you interested in contract law will be interested in a recent and thoughtful article by Eliza Mik (‘The Unimportance of being “electronic” or – popular misconceptions about “Internet contracting”’ forthcoming in International Journal of Law and Information Technology (Oxford University Press 2011).  The abstract is as follows:

 

 Existing e-commerce literature abounds with misconceptions regard­ing both technology and contract law. Long-standing legal concepts are adorned with “e-” or “cyber-” to appear more exciting. The traditional contractual regime is supplanted with new principles instead of being supplemented with technological considerations. It is one thing, to include technology in legal analyses, it is another to create separate, technology-specific categories. Separate categories justify the departure from trad­itional principles. Most, if not all, alleged “challenges” created by new communication scenarios fit within the existing legal framework, techno­logical complexity and novelty of the Internet notwithstanding. Most “challenges” are also unrelated to the fact that transactions are concluded on the Internet or with electronic means. The new transacting environment frequently exacerbates pre-existing difficulties, but does not necessarily create them. It is probably too late to abandon popular terminology. It is not too late, however, to recognize its limited implications.

 

Happy Reading,

-- 
Jason Neyers
Associate Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
University of Western Ontario
N6A 3K7
(519) 661-2111 x. 88435