Introduction

Laws have been used to protect consumers for centuries. These laws have drawn on a variety of legal forms, including criminal law, tort, and contract, to achieve their objectives. In addition to those laws that specify consumer protection as their primary concern, numerous other provisions have the effect of protecting the consumer, for example by streamlining the prosecution of fraud, protecting property, or facilitating litigation. As a result, the boundaries of consumer protection law are not easily drawn. This book is concerned primarily with those laws that have consumer protection as their main objective, and which use the criminal law to achieve this objective.

This chapter examines the role of law in consumer protection, focusing upon the objectives of consumer protection. In order to achieve this, we need to consider a number of matters. First, we need to identify ‘the consumer’ whom we are concerned to protect. Secondly, we need to consider the relationship between consumer protection and the market economy. It is sometimes argued that the state, through the law, should play only a restricted role in protecting consumers, because consumer protection is most effectively achieved by the operation of free and open markets. Law should be used to ensure that the markets function as freely as possible. Where markets do not work perfectly, the law should intervene to address this failure, provided this can be done cost effectively. Thirdly, this chapter will consider the extent to which consumer protection should concern itself with social, non-market-based goals.