Equity, consumers and secret commissions: the developing law

Whayman, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1026-5646 (2026) Equity, consumers and secret commissions: the developing law. In: Dodsworth, T. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6954-7774, Hemsworth, M. and Saintier, S. (eds.) A Research Agenda for Contract Law. Elgar Research Agendas. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 190-211. ISBN 9781035342570 doi: 10.4337/9781035342587 (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

Through the lens of the recent motor finance litigation, this chapter examines how judge-made fiduciary law overrides the contractual starting point that the parties be held to their terms where the claimant is a vulnerable consumer and the agency problem arises. The specific problem was that dealers and brokers, by taking secret commissions and restricting the range of lenders, corrupted their impartiality. It asks how this quasi-regulatory law can solve this problem and examines its limits after its retrenchment in the motor finance litigation. The statutory-regulatory regime of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 having supplanted the judge-made law in motor finance cases, the chapter examines the relationship between two. After assessing fiduciary law’s advantages and disadvantages in this field, it critically discusses the difficulties of developing such ‘ground up’ protection from the general law.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130473
Identification Number/DOI	10.4337/9781035342587
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Law
Uncontrolled Keywords	Agency Problem Bribes Secret Commissions Fiduciary Duties Equity Consumer Credit
Publisher	Edward Elgar
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