Consumer Law in New Zealand (2nd edition) By Kate Tokeley (Ed)

• Author: Matthew Barber
• Position: Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of Canterbury
• Pages: 187-189

Book Review 187

CONSUMER L AW IN NEW ZEALAND (2ND EDITION)

B K T ()

LN  N Z, 

M B *

e second edition of Consumer Law in New Zealand1 is the work of

eight academic authors, edited by Kate Tokeley, and follows some 14 years

after the rst edition,2 which wa s written entirely by Tokeley. Between the

two, LexisNexis published a nother consumer law textbook,3 but the more

recent work draws more heavily from the earlier text, albeit substantia lly

revised and rewritten. e authors of the second edition are highly-regarded

and have considerable expertise in the area s of their contributions.

e size of the market for New Zeal and legal textbooks dictates that ma ny

are written for use both in universities and in practice. Consumer protection

law in New Zealand is l argely a creature of statute and often involves bespoke

dispute resolution mechanisms – consumer disputes are seldom heard in the

High Court or above. is explains why, in addition to serving the academic

market, Consumer Law in New Zealand is aimed at policy-makers and

those who operate in and around the consumer-focused corners of the justice

system.

Writing a New Zealand consumer law textbook involves grappling with

two issues, one conceptual and the other practical. e rst concerns the

meaning of consumer law, which naturally ha s implications for the content of

the book. e diculty is whet her to set out a comprehensive account of all

the laws that govern consumer transactions or instead to focus on those laws

that are aimed specically at consumers. e rst approach means including

all the general ru les of contract law that operate in the consumer sphere: oer

and acceptance, mistake, misrepresentation, unconscionable bargains, the

incorporation of terms et cetera.

e second approach means limiting focus to those provisions that protect

consumers in special ways. Statutes that expressly single out consumers or

consumer transactions, such as the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, are

obvious examples. More dicult, however, are statutory protections that do

not dene consumers, but operate in circumstances that usually involve or

are likely to involve them. e problem with this approach is that it might

exclude from consideration laws that are of great signicance to consumer

transactions on the basis t hat they also apply to purely commercial exchanges.

1 Kate Tokeley (ed) Consumer Law in Ne w Zealand (2nd ed, LexisNe xis, Wellington, 2014).

2 Kate Tokeley Consumer Law i n New Zealand (Butter worths, Wellington, 20 00).

3 Bill Bevan, B ob Dugan and Virgi nia Grainer Consu mer Law (LexisNe xis, Wellington,

2009 ).

* Senior Lectu rer, School of Law, University of Ca nterbury.