CONTRACT LAW

Contract Law



Contract Law

Introduction

The Internet community has created its own, distinctive culture. The uniqueness of the Internet culture is reflected in behavioural norms, which were developed by the Internet participants spontaneously, without the intervention of any governmental body. The norms were developed by cognisant or unconscious following of the behaviour of other However, despite the richness of behavioural norms functioning on the Internet; there is still a perception among online users that the Internet commerce functions outside the realm of law (De Ly, 58). And this perception is correct with respect to the current level of maturity of international Internet commerce law. The international policymakers and the legal doctrine have failed to devise a legal framework for the global electronic commerce (Goldstajn, 114). One of the reasons for the failure has been the unnecessary focus on commenting attempts to regulate the Internet in a top-down manner. This has resulted in a failure to observe that the Internet community managed to develop its own, distinct norms. It is argued that these norms, by virtue of their international character could be used both to settle Internet related disputes and to develop a truly international system of Internet laws (Nielsen, 238). The focus on the top-down regulation by means of the written law has led to the propagation of the perception that the international electronic commerce is not a legally safe environment.

Critical Assessment

The Notion of Internet Custom

Customs are ordinary practices that acquire definite characteristics. An international electronic commerce custom (e-custom) can be defined as a legally relevant practice of trading on the Internet, which is sufficiently widespread within a given timeframe as to justify the expectation that it should be observed (Schmitthoff, 47). Based on the above definition one can identify several important elements of Internet customs, of which the most important one is the requirement of sufficiently widespread practice. The requirement means that a given practice is widely followed in space and time. The practice is widespread if it has a global, regional or even a local character (widespread in space) and if it is followed intensively in time (widespread in time). In ecommerce, the practice has a global character if it is observed by the Internet participants of all sizes across all or the majority of industries in the world. It can also exhibit a particular character if it is peculiar to a number of companies exhibiting some commonality e.g. companies that are confined to one or several industries or to one or several geographical regions as indicated by the country-level domain names. The practice has local scope if it occurs between two or only a few trading participants (Polanski July 2003). Internet customs can also be categorised based on whether they exist in the offline world (universal legal customs) or not (Internet specific customs). Universal legal customs also apply to the Internet. In the international law they are known as the general principles of law.

Examples of Internet Customary Practices

The objective of the first part of the article is ...