ABSTRACT
The standard form contract therefore represents the supplier’s attempt to plan for the eventualities of the relationship, such as disputes as to mode/quality of performance, financial responsibilities, and the withdrawal of a service. There are obviously efficiency advantages in the use of such terms. This is because they are indeed standard i.e. they are used for all of the transactions of that type which a particular firm enters into with consumers. As such there is no need for time to be spent on individual negotiations with each consumer as to the range of issues and eventualities which must be covered. The efficiency advantages of standard form contracts were summed up in the following terms by Karl Llewellyn,4
Hugh Beale has also emphasized the benefits of standard form contracts which can provide us with ‘... a system of mass production which allows more and more people to obtain goods and services they might not otherwise be able to afford’.5
