Breach of Contract and the New Remedy of Account of Profits

This paper outlines the general loss–based damages rule when a breach of contract is established, in light of the competing policy objectives of enhancing contract rights v efficient breach. The economic premises behind the theory of efficient breach are briefly discussed. The paper then summarizes the legal background to the House of Lords decision Attorney–General v Blake and Another [2000] 3 WLR 625 where it was ruled that in exceptional cases the plaintiff who has suffered no loss as a result of the breach may recover the resultant profits that the defendant has gained. The court was reluctant to specify fixed rules as to when the discretion should be exercised. The article concludes that the remedy was specifically devised for Blake's case and will have extremely limited application.     

Comparing sustainable consumption patterns across product sectors

In this paper, we present findings from two qualitative studies where we explored sustainable consumption practices through examining consumers' information search and decision-making processes for recent purchases of five categories of goods/services: fast moving consumer goods (such as foodstuffs and household products), white goods (such as fridges and washing machines), small electrical products (such as TVs and computers), green energy tariffs (such as electricity from renewable sources) and tourism (such as flights). This research has provided us with a set of rich data which explores the nature and extent of sustainable consumption practices across different product sectors. A comparative analysis has allowed us to draw out patterns of consumer behaviour for different product and service types. Our findings suggest that even the same green consumer will not use the same information sources or decision-making criteria, consider the same options or focus on the same industry actors, for products in different sectors. However, we have identified some degree of consistency in purchases within sectors. We present these sector-specific patterns of consumer behaviour and highlight differences in the criteria utilized and the research norms in each sector.