Law is for humans. Humans suffer from cognitive limitations. Legal institutions can help humans by making these limitations irrelevant. This experiment shows that strong property rights serve this function. In theory, efficient outcomes obtain even without strong property rights. In a...

Law is for humans. Humans suffer from cognitive limitations. Legal institutions can help humans by making these limitations irrelevant. This experiment shows that strong property rights serve this function. In theory, efficient outcomes obtain even without strong property rights. In a...

The Brazilian Consumer Protection Code is one of the most advanced in the world. Among its most important innovations, article 6, VIII allows the court to shift the burden of proof whenever the claimant is at disadvantage and the allegations are credible. Its objective is to place unequal...

In the area of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the patent rights of biotech companies have long been established under U.S. law and beyond, reaching into international markets through treaties. However, with ownership comes great responsibility — and potential liability. In view of the...

Unlike state and municipal police forces that can generally not be sued by victims of crime on the grounds that they provided inadequate policing, shopping malls are regularly the targets by crime victims in tort actions for failing to provide adequate security. Courts have struggled with the...

Old laws and complex, innovative finance do not make good partners, particularly in the area of consumer law. Today, tremendous uncertainty exists about the extent to which consumers might have claims against arrangers and investment trusts based on misdeeds at the origination of their loans....

Key PointsFollowing (price-increasing) competition law infringements, consumer harm is two-fold.Consumers are negatively impacted by (i) the overcharge (they pay more for the goods actually purchased during the infringement period) and (ii) a ‘lost consumption effect’ (they buy less because...