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Standard Form Contract7981
Standard Form Contract7981
Contract
(Boilerplate/Take it or Leave it Contracts)
Meaning
A standard form contract sometimes referred to as an adhesion
contract or boilerplate contract is a contract between two parties that
does not allow for negotiations, i.e. take it or leave it. It is often a
contract that is entered into between unequal bargaining partners,
such as when an individual is given a contract by the sales - person of a
multinational corporation. The consumer is in no position to negotiate
the standard terms of such contracts and the company's representative
often does not have the authority to do so.
Meaning
• An example of a standard form contract is a standardized contract
form that offers goods or services to consumers on essentially a "take
it or leave it" basis without giving consumers realistic opportunities to
negotiate terms that would benefit their interests. When this occurs,
the consumer cannot obtain the desired product or service unless he
or she acquiesces to the pre-drafted terms of the contract.
Protective Devices against Standard
Form Contract
In the Contract of Adhesion, the individual has no choice “but to accept”;
he doesn’t negotiate, but merely adheres. Therefore individual deserves
to be protected against the possibility of exploitation inherent in such
contracts. Some of the modes of protection which has been developed
by the courts are as follows:
1) REASONABLE NOTICE
2) NOTICE SHOULD BE CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE CONTRACT
3) FUNDAMENTAL BREACH OF CONTRACT
4) Contra Proferentem
5) Liability in Torts
REASONABLE NOTICE