... clauses have been the subject of keen academic debate for almost half a century. The reason for such argument is that complete freedom of contract would allow a stronger party to use exemption clauses to force its customers to give up certain rights that they would otherwise have enjoyed. Some academics believe this justifies the legal control of exclusion clauses. However there is a counter-argument, first propounded by Coote (1964), that exemption clauses form a valid part of a negotiated contract, and that to limit their use would be to limit the sacrosanct freedom of contract. Which argument one finds most convincing depends largely on ones perspective. From a formalist or an economic point of view exclusion clauses are simply a means of allocating risk or clarifying the parties obligations. Why, ask proponants of Coote's thesis, should one be forced to pay for a warranty of quality if one does ...

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