Martin, Evans, Wright and More on Consumer Issues in New Lydian Payments Journal

A little self promotion and more. Take a look at the new Lydian Payments Journal. The December issue features:

1. David Evans and Joshua Wright: How the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 Would Change the Law and Regulation of Consumer Financial Products
2. Jennifer S. Martin: What You Should Know about the Debit Card in Your Wallet: Where the Federal Reserve's New Overdraft May Fall Short
3. Francesc Prior Sanz and Javier Santomá: Banking the Unbanked Using Prepaid Platforms and Mobile Telephones in the U.S.
4. Ulf Mattsson: Demystifying PCI Technologies

Happy reading! Yes, after reading all the examinations. I've got a stack of first year Contracts exams coming my way this afternoon.

- JSM

Harry Flechtner on the Scope of the CISG

Those those CISG fans, Professor Harry Flechtner, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, has a new piece Selected Issues Relating to the CISG's Scope of Application. The abstract is as follows:

This paper addresses two issues concerning the scope of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”), both of which have arisen in recent decisions applying the Convention: 1) whether requirements imposed by U.S. domestic sales law on attempts to disclaim implied warranties apply to attempts to derogate from the seller‘s obligations under Arts. 35(2)(a) & (b) CISG; and 2) whether burden of proof questions that are not expressly addressed in the CISG are governed by the general principles of the CISG. The paper defends the use of the distinction between substantive and procedural law in defining the scope of the CISG with respect to burden of proof issues, and in determining the whether the Convention provides for the recovery of damages for attorneys’ fees incurred to litigate a claim under the CISG. The paper concludes by arguing that defining the limits of the Convention‘s scope is critical to its success, and to the success of future attempts to create uniform international commercial law.

Happy reading.

- JSM

Adam Levitin on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency

Georgetown's Adam Levitin recently wrote The Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a Pew Financial Reform Project briefing paper. Adam's work is important to this initiative to create the CFPA (See Communication From Academic Faculty). Here's the abstract:

The Obama administration has proposed restructuring financial services regulation by transferring all consumer protection functions from existing agencies to a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The goal of the CFPA legislation is to address the flaws in the regulatory architecture that have inhibited effective responses to the substantive problems, rather than mandate specific new substantive consumer protection laws.

The current consumer financial protection is based on disclosure regime and is policed through supervisory feedback, enforcement actions, and occasionally prohibitions on terms, products, and practices that are deemed inherently unfair and deceptive. On the federal level, consumer protection in financial services is divided among a number of agencies: the OCC, OTS, NCUA, Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, FHFA, HUD, VA, FTC and DOJ. Some of these agencies have the ability to promulgate regulations, some also exercise supervisory authority over financial institutions, and some may only enforce existing regulations. Sometimes authority is over a class of institutions, and sometimes it is over a particular type of product.

There are four main structural criticisms of the current regulatory structure: that consumer protection is a so-called 'orphan' mission; that consumer protection conflicts with, and is subordinated to, safety-and-soundness concerns; that no agency has developed an expertise in consumer protection in financial services, and; that regulatory arbitrage of the current system fuels a regulatory race-to-the-bottom.

Consolidation of consumer financial services protection authority could: place all financial services companies, regardless of the form of their charter, under a single regulator, thus ending its orphan status; separate consumer protection from safety-and-soundness regulation, thus ending subordination; encourage the development of a deep bench of regulatory expertise and knowledge, and; end the opportunity for regulatory arbitrage and any potential race to the bottom.

There are several potential concerns about a CFPA: conflicts with prudential regulators; ambiguity with respect to Consumer Reinvestment Act authority, and; potential overregulation resulting in higher costs of financial products, less product availability, and discouragement of innovation. Still, there are compelling reasons to believe that the present regulatory architecture cannot produce the optimal consumer protection regime and will continue to fail in its task, resulting in unfair treatment of consumers and a potentially significant source of systemic risk. To this extent, consideration of a CFPA should strive to distinguish between the basic thrust of the legislation - a consolidation of the regulatory authority of - and the proposed new substantive powers granted to the agency.

-JSM

Mark Roark on Fixtures

Commercial Law's Mark Roark (LaVerne) has written Defining Fixtures in Law and Policy in the UCC, which will appear in the Cincinnati Law Review. It always warms my heart to see great law review placements on UCC papers! Here's the abstract:

This article offers both a concession and a critique. The article concedes that the law of fixtures under the Uniform Commercial Code is helplessly tied to the various state laws dictating real estate. The natural impact of explicitly tying a UCC doctrine to multiple state law variation is the automatic loss of uniformity. At the center of the fixtures discussion in the UCC is a definition that does not define, and more importantly, does not limit doctrinal extension. Because the UCC offers a non-defining definition, this article considers the function of the fixtures definition. Specifically, the article looks to the original drafters comments about what the purpose of the fixtures definition was intended to accomplish.

Conceding that the definition in the UCC does not define, the article then critiques the definition by asking what role the definition plays in the game of seeking uniformity. Specifically, the article argues that the fixtures definition in UCC Section 9-102(a)(41) performs a function just as important as defining - it narrates. The article argues that the drafters in deciding on a definition of fixtures isolated themes of commonality and described those themes in a concise, but useful description of the fixture. Those themes include the joining of goods to realty, the concept of relation, and the emphasis on interests as a governing factor in the fixtures analysis. The article argues that the narration accomplished by the UCC allows for uniformity, not by mandatory uniformity, but by synchronic dialogue - allowing the themes to create images and the images to compel instinctive beliefs. The article argues, however, that the description provided by the drafters should be reunited with the substantive provisions relating to fixtures since each are tied to the other’s understanding.

-JSM

New Honnold & Flechtner Treatise

For all fans of the CISG, the latest version of Uniform Law for International Sales under the 1980 United Nations Convention 4th revised edition by Honnold and Flechtner. From the abstract:

Now ratified by 73 countries from every geographical region, representing every stage of economic development and every major legal and economic system, the United Nations Convention on Contracts of the International Sales of Goods (CISG) has changed the way international sales contracts are drafted and resulting disputes settled. In the decade since the Third Edition of Professor John Honnold’s classic commentary, there has been vast growth in the number of decisions from tribunals around the world which have applied the CISG, an explosion of new scholarly analyses of the Convention, and remarkable developments in the research infrastructure that permits access to those materials. These developments have raised many new issues, and have deepened our understanding of (or, in some instances, effectively resolved) old ones. The remarkable progress of this epoch-making uniform international law calls for an updated edition of Professor Honnold’s treatise.

— JSM

Islamic Business and Commercial History Reading Rec

Photo by seier+seier+seier

I've found myself drawn again and again to discussions of Islamic finance in recent months. I'm reading a great paper now that lays the foundation for what I hope will be my better appreciation of its contribution and continuing role in the modern world. Timur Kuran was kind enough to share with us through SSRN his fascinating paper, The Scale of Entrepreneurship in Middle Eastern History: Inhibitive Roles of Islamic Institutions. This is not the short-sighted, xenophobic rant that one has come to expect of western commentary on Islamic institutions in the post-9/11 world (indeed, I apologize for revealing that the title gave me that impression). Instead, Prof. Kuran lays out a level-headed exploration of how and why Islamic law facilitated early entrepreneurialism, based as it was on personal, short-lived business arrangements, but it impeded modern entrepreneurialism after the transition to more impersonal, longer-term business arrangements. I'm not finished with the paper yet, but its central argument seems to be one I've seen before: the central role played by the corporate form in collecting and locking in long-term capital, catapulting European (and U.S.) commerce, was not available in Islamic law until much later, thus critically inhibiting growth.

We in the West obviously have much to learn about Islam and its role in facilitating and restricting business and commerce (the amount of money flowing through Islamic law-compliant banks and funds is impressive and growing). Prof. Kuran's paper helps novices like me to take a comfortable first step in the direction of better objective, non-judgmental understanding. Check it out!

Scrooge and Other Recommended Reading

Photo by raymaclean

Two recent pieces of scholarship should not escape the attention of our readers. First, Alireza Gharagozlou has a fun little piece coming out in the Nova Law Review entitled When did Scrooge Become a Role Model? Why Criticism of America's National Debt is Misplaced. It's a nice, basic introduction to the macro-economics of saving versus spending, written in a very lucid, accessible, and entertaining way (yes, this is an entertaining paper about macro-economics). Gharagozlou offers a rare critique of saving (at least over-saving) and explains how spending drives the broader economy. In my view, the paper gives relatively short shrift to the benefits of saving (at least on the individual level, as insurance cannot effectively address the dangers of unemployment and health care crisis to which more and more Americans are exposed today), and it mildly overstates the backstopping effect of bankruptcy (though the explanation of the purpose of bankruptcy within a capitalist system is spot on). But because the paper focuses on sovereign debt and spending, these criticisms do not go to the heart of the paper, which is a quick and well-worthwhile read.

My second shout-out goes to a paper by Gail Hillebrand of Consumers Union (the publisher of Consumer Reports). Published in volume 83 of the Chicago-Kent Law Review, Hillbrand's insightful article is entitled Before the Grand Rethinking: Five Things To Do Today With Payments Law and Ten Principles To Guide New Payments Products and New Payments Law. The strongest part of this very strong paper is its detailed discussion of the application of the Electronic Fund Transfers Act and Reg E to the panoply of plastic cards out there today. This is a topic with which I've struggled as a teacher of Payment Systems, and Hillebrand's paper does a great job of explaining why EFTA and Reg E are or are not clearly applicable in light of the growing areas of uncertainty as new products emerge (see especially the discussion at pp. 789-96 on prepaid debit cards, payroll cards, flex spending account cards, and "bank in your pocket" general spending cards). The first part of the paper also marches through the key differences among (and complaints about) the various payment devices. There's even a rare discussion of funds availability and Reg CC--how often do you see that?! For teachers and students of modern payments law, this paper is a strong buy!

While I hate to end on a sour note, I feel a duty to my fellow Payments teachers to point out an annoying aspect of the latest edition of a book I know many of us use. Ronald Mann did all of us a great favor by enlivening and bringing down to earth the study of payments law and practice in his book Payment Systems and Other Financial Transactions. I adopted the book in my first year of teaching, and I have loved it . . . until now. I still like it, but the fourth edition is a major step back. First, unlike the careful and detailed transition guide for Warren & LoPucki's book on Secured Transactions (and Warren & Westbrook's book on Bankruptcy--all of which are in new editions!), Mann's TM contains a rather weak transition guide. It refers to the third edition when it means the fourth, it refers to an incorporation of electronic commerce materials, which happened in the previous edition, not this one, and while it mentions a number of new or edited problems, it doesn't mention all of them! For example, the location of the second bank in Problem 3.1 is different in the latest edition, with no warning in the TM, and the TM discussion refers to a third location for that same bank! More seriously, Problem 23.4 (former Problem 26.4) now has four subsections (a-d), as opposed to three before, and the subsection (c) now elminates the discussion of anomalous indorsements (which I rather liked). Neither the transition guide nor even the introduction to assignment 23 in the TM mentions this (indeed, the intro to assignment 23 in the TM still indicates that problem 23.4 has three parts). Moreover, Mann has eliminated former assignments 19, 20, and 21 altogether, with no explanation. I very much liked these assignments, and students year after year have thanked me for covering this material on interest rates, usury, and pre- and late payments. Nothing is added to fill the void left by these assignments' omission (the total page count is more or less the same, it appears, thanks to more cases). In addition, while the TM offers detailed notes for how most of the problems should play out in class, for the new ones, Mann often simply notes, for example, "This problem was added for the Fourth Edition. It is designed to underscore the way that the notice requirement limits opportunistic reliance on the availability exceptions. It is a true story (with names changed)." No elegant explanation of how the law achieves this limitation, as with other problems. New Payments professors beware--the latest edition is not as user-friendly as earlier ones. And some of the problems contain funny holdover errors. On p. 23, the character's name in Problem 1.1 is Terry, while on p. 24 (in the middle of the same problem), his name changes to Tertius (his name in the earlier edition). While I'm not ready to abandon this book yet (I know others who have), I'm now on the lookout for a reasonable replacement that contains nice textual explanations of the systems and fun problems. Any suggestions?

Margaret Atwood's "Payback"

Commercial law scholars looking for a fascinating literary diversion should consider picking up Margaret Atwood's new book "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth". This short book is a free-ranging (indeed sometimes annoyingly meandering) exploration of the concept of debt in religion, literature, and society, interspersed with frequent references and allusions to the modern realities of debt and the current credit crisis, for example when Atwood observes that "Hell is like an infernal maxed-out credit card that multiplies the charges endlessly." (p. 168). The essays are a nice reminder of the fact that, at a basic level and throughout history, debt is a very human enterprise. Going through it also provides a handy recommended reading list for distracted commercial lawyers, transforming Thackeray's Vanity Fair and Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus into, in many odd respects, payments books.

Got Wheels?

For those who might be lucky enough to be vacationing soon . . . Irma Russell’s recent article Got Wheels?: Article 2A, Standardize Rental Car Terms, Rational Inaction, and Unilateral Private Ordering might be a worthy read. The piece takes a good stab at the issue of adhesion contracts—a popular complaint here recently—in the context of car rentals. Her study compared the terms and conditions of rental agreements and pricing information available to consumers pre-lease, often available to Irma in the oft-seen flimsy paper of the 8-point variety. Not surprisingly, the terms (which heavily favor the rental companies) are offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis and Irma was met with laughter from one company in response to her request to vary the standard rental terms.

Irma’s observation about lack of consumer preferences on these types of terms strikes at the heart of the debate. It seems like an unfortunate state of affairs that consumers have little bargaining room in these types of transactions. That said, unless severe overreaching occurs, I tend not to question the terms offered and go on my way. In fact, the faster that Hertz gets me in the car and on my way, the happier I tend to be. Consumer inaction strikes again.

Perspectives on the Uniform Commercial Code

Recently, the Harvard Law Review's publications section reviewed Doug Litowitz' new student reader on commercial law, Perspectives on the Uniform Commercial Code, which is now in a second edition. According to the review, Litowitz' book contains “discussions relating the UCC’s drafting and enactment history; debates over the methodology, interpretation, and wisdom of the UCC’s nationalization of commercial law; insightful commentary about the contested nature of commercial property and the politics and adequacy of the UCC’s amendment procedure; and excerpts from cutting-edge UCC scholarship.”

In an email to me, Doug mentioned: "The purpose of the book was to change the way that commercial law is taught. In addition to the standard casebook and statutory supplement, I wanted to provide students with readings on the history, interpretation, and politics of the UCC." Now that’s a lot in one book.

Given Jim's post about teaching commercial law and Marie's on Teaching Commercial Law II , the broad based approach that Doug is trying to achieve has some attactiveness. Not only do students need critical statute reading and interpretative skills, but also an understanding of the methodology behind the sections, including the drafting history. I agree to a limited extent with Joe S. that the U.C.C. may have a different drafting practice than, for instance, an environmental statute. Yet, I find that students have difficulty with statutes of any kind and that the U.C.C. with its comments and history makes it a particularly good vehicle for students embarking on the study of critical statutory skills. The U.C.C. also has many sublties that make it interesting for those of us who study it long term. Perhaps my bias as a commercial law professor finds me agreeing with Marie Reilly that the study is not at all like broccoli (though I must admit that I have an affinity for that too). To me, I think the study is more like the flavor of a glass of Châteauneuf du Pape. The importance of the blend of skills that the study offers is a good part of what makes the practice of law intriguing. I certainly offer my best to Doug for his new edition.