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The sale of goods legislation, as already explained, is a codification of common law that was developed by the courts primarily when cases between business persons arose. In such cases, the courts could assume that parties each had sufficient bargaining power to look after their own interests.
The rules developed in this context do not sufficiently protect consumers, who frequently enter into contracts for goods and services without having the knowledge, skills or power to adequately protect their interests. For example, although the sale of goods legislation provides implied terms to regulate matters such as the buyer's title to the goods, the quality of the goods etc, these statutory implied terms can be limited or excluded by agreement at the insistence of the stronger party.
Early attempts to regulate consumer contracts were less than satisfactory. The provisions were either easily avoided, or were too technical to be practically effective. After a review of business practices in 2011, new legislation was introduced in Australia known as the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
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