| Research Abstract |
In the so-called "Software-oriented Society" where economic gains produced through financial investment or intellectual property are much more respected than the utility value of products, litigation increases in number claiming compensation for damages suffered from a business transaction under tort law. In this research, I investigated some features of business tort, classifying the transaction between a consumer and a merchant and that between a merchant and a merchant.
As to the transaction between a consumer and a merchant, I tried to understand the actual circumstances of consumer fraud through interview with the injured consumers and lawyers representing them, and arranged the content and issues of each case raised from case report, newsletters of local consumer centers and the said interviews. With regard to legal dogmas relating to tort, I examined such issues as illegality of structure of business and way of inducement, public policy, free will and comparative negligence, monopoly price, and undue profits. It was made clear that general theory of tort law does not fit the business tort, since the general theory was developed mostly in personal injury cases. Revision of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act is urgent in order to promote consumer protection in business transaction.
As to the transaction between a merchant and a merchant, I investigated and arranged the actual domestic cases through interviews with legal staffs and layers, newspaper clipping and case reports. With regard to legal dogmas, I examined anti-trust law and tort, recaption of delivered goods at the time of the buyer's bankruptcy, actio pauliana and tort, double sales of real property, abuse of power of agent, undue break of business negotiation and so on.
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