Statutory modification of contract law in Queensland: a new equilibrium or entrenching the old power order?

Abstract

In the past decade, Queensland has introduced legislative measures that fundamentally affect the application of contract law to residential land and retail shop lease contracts. This article examines whether the scheme of consumer protection under these Acts, consisting of warning statements. disclosure statements, advice certificates, and cooling off periods, addresses fundamental bargaining inequality through creation of a new order within these markets. It proposes that the framework of rhe Acts differs from the traditional principle/counter-principle dichotomy of classical contract law, whereby the norm of the contract is supported by exceptions that reinforce the same paradigm. In doing so, this paper critically examines the formalism and objectivism of classical contract theory using the framework of the critical legal studies movement (CLS) and seeks to assess whether the consumer protection regime under these Acts answers the CLS critique of common law contract.