There seems to be a believe hidden there that government just needs to declare something illegal in order for it to disappear. However each law is just an invitation to find loopholes. There is ample evidence in Europe that regulations do not work.
In Germany we have so many laws that nobody can ever hope to know all that is or is not legal. So whenever any government starts to regulate the market in order to prevent deliberately confusing contracts, it will end only when the law is so complex that there are no more simple contracts because all of the law is implicitly part of any contract.
The only protective measure government must take is a divorce right. There must always be a way for any party in a contract to leave that contract with a jury deciding on just compensation for gained benefits or caused costs. Anything beyond that is a recipe for disaster.
The idea of a general divorce right for contracts sounds intriguing. Do you have any links to studies/​discussions/​advocacy? Google fails me, it seems.
Sadly not. I came across different interpretations of contracts while I was browsing through libertarian and later objectivist sites, but no satisfactorily treatment of the topic. This is something that bothers me a great deal since as the article points out contracts are a fundamental part of economics.
The possibility that well-intentioned regulations will be evaded is indeed a problem, and in some cases it limits what is possible. But other regulations are relatively clear and well-enforced, particularly when they have the necessary political support.
There seems to be a believe hidden there that government just needs to declare something illegal in order for it to disappear. However each law is just an invitation to find loopholes. There is ample evidence in Europe that regulations do not work.
In Germany we have so many laws that nobody can ever hope to know all that is or is not legal. So whenever any government starts to regulate the market in order to prevent deliberately confusing contracts, it will end only when the law is so complex that there are no more simple contracts because all of the law is implicitly part of any contract.
The only protective measure government must take is a divorce right. There must always be a way for any party in a contract to leave that contract with a jury deciding on just compensation for gained benefits or caused costs. Anything beyond that is a recipe for disaster.
The idea of a general divorce right for contracts sounds intriguing. Do you have any links to studies/​discussions/​advocacy? Google fails me, it seems.
Sadly not. I came across different interpretations of contracts while I was browsing through libertarian and later objectivist sites, but no satisfactorily treatment of the topic. This is something that bothers me a great deal since as the article points out contracts are a fundamental part of economics.
The possibility that well-intentioned regulations will be evaded is indeed a problem, and in some cases it limits what is possible. But other regulations are relatively clear and well-enforced, particularly when they have the necessary political support.