The significant imbalance in trade relations

According to Henri Lacordaire, ’Between the strong and the weak, between the rich and the poor, between the master and the servant, it is freedom that oppresses and the law that liberates.’ This famous saying perfectly sums up the guiding principle of the legislator who drafted Article L442-6, I, 2° of the Commercial Code. In the course of this study, we have been able to assess the dangers of convoluted wording when it comes to establishing rigid boundaries and definite legal consequences. We have endeavoured to exercise sound judgement in order to establish a precise guide to the concepts covered by this text. Ultimately, we have introduced ’safeguards’ into the application of the text and considered ways in which the stronger party may exempt itself from liability in order to provide the greatest possible security for the contracts entered into. We recommend, in fact, that this provision be applied only in cases where freedom is merely theoretical. Finally, the article under consideration implicitly highlights the reticence of the common law in comparison with the dynamism of special laws.