Book Review: Margaret Jane Radin, Boilerplate, the Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2013)

(2015) 65 University of Toronto Law Journal, 136-142

7 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2015

See all articles by Pascale Chapdelaine

Pascale Chapdelaine

University of Windsor, Faculty of Law

Date Written: November 1, 2015

Abstract

In Boilerplate, the Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law, Margaret Jane Radin offers a brilliant exposé of the phenomenon of boilerplate, those legal terms to which we agree without doing so. Radin unravels the broader and insidious effects of boilerplate terms, and why increasingly they should be of concern. Radin’s first claim is that our inability to address properly the absence, or problematic nature, of consent to boilerplate terms leads to a normative degradation. Radin’s second main argument is that the omnipresent mass-market deployment of boilerplate rights-deletion schemes ultimately leads to a democratic degradation.

The book provides a framework of analysis to help determine which boilerplate clauses should be upheld and which should be non-enforceable. The framework offers a nuanced approach that does not advocate for the eradication of boilerplate. In parallel, Radin proposes the creation of a new tort for “intentional deprivation of basic legal rights.” Introducing this new tort is a bold idea to remedy the main claim of the book: beyond each individual transaction, the compounded effects of boilerplate rights-deletion schemes can be harmful to the normative fabric of contracts and to democracy.

One resonating theme in the book is our failure to grasp the proper role of the state in regulating the private sphere, which in turn threatens private ordering itself. Radin’s exegesis of the boilerplate phenomenon pierces the fog around the respective role that private and public ordering ought to play. Her work calls upon greater public accountability and appeals to a sense of collectivity in responding to boilerplate terms.

Keywords: contract law, contracts of adhesion, standard form agreements, rule of law, torts

Suggested Citation

Chapdelaine, Pascale, Book Review: Margaret Jane Radin, Boilerplate, the Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2013) (November 1, 2015). (2015) 65 University of Toronto Law Journal, 136-142 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2619496

Pascale Chapdelaine (Contact Author)

University of Windsor, Faculty of Law ( email )

401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4 N9B 3P4
Canada

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