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The National Education already own network presents a law in the news with Professor Joseph R. Julan associate dean of the University of Michigan Law School. My main fear as I said this morning is that efforts will be made to jam a series of new consumer credit laws through the legislatures of the 50 states without an opportunity for consumers to know their stake in the various proposals good or bad. Even if the proposed code were perfect when submitted to the legislatures we all know that Bills have a tendency to come out of the legislator meddles completely different from the way they went in. But if all people look at the title of the bill they think they are getting the original legislation. That was the statement of Congresswoman Eleanor K. Sullivan of Missouri in the House of Representatives last January 30th 1969. Her comments were directed at a proposed uniform consumers code. But what is the Congress doing in this area of state legislation. To answer that question I've asked Professor William J Pierce president of the Commission on uniform
state laws to comment. It's a most unusual situation deck that the federal Congress would be holding hearings with respect to proposed legislation to be adopted by the several state legislatures. Now the reason for this intervention as explained by Mr. Sullivan is twofold. One whether the uniform consumer credit code which is now before a number of state legislatures will subvert in her terms the federal legislation the federal consumer credit protection act signed last May and the law. The other purpose of course is to lay the foundation for possible federalization of this area of law which has always been state law previously. Now with respect to the first There's a great deal of misunderstanding and I'm afraid Mr. Sullivan was led to some misunderstanding concerning the uniform consumer credit code the uniform consumer credit code parallels the line by line the federal Truth in Lending legislation which takes effect next July
in the United States. So there's no subversion whatsoever of the federal legislation and therefore I'm led to believe that the major purpose of the federal investigation of state activity is the fact that there may be more federal activity and there is some interest in Washington in going beyond the present federal legislation. As you know the present federal legislation merely covers one little thing about credit practices and that is what must be disclosed to the consumer customer prior to is arranging for credit. The Consumer Credit code it was proposed by the Commissioners on uniform state laws is a much bigger package in the mat and provides all sorts of consumer protection with respect to the basic underlying agreement. For example balloon payments. Must be refinanced no less favorable terms to the customer than the original terms of the credit
for their more negotiable instruments cannot be used in a consumer credit sale. Finally they cook and the code goes much further and providing additional rights and remedies to the American consumer. With respect to credit now the federal legislation does nothing about these situations these are present state law problems and unfortunately the existing state law is a hodgepodge a mess. For example in Michigan as one state if you buy a refrigerator you have credit you have entirely different rights and when you buy an automobile and that just doesn't make sense the ordinary consumer that he has different rights and remedies depending on what he buys. Bill over this last weekend an article appeared in the sense of it was that the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee finds that the federal Fair packaging and labeling at the truth in packaging law of little effect.
Is this likely to be the result in all of this consumer legislation. Well I hope not. If the code is adopted that definitely will not be the case but if it's not handled properly in the state legislatures is amended to death well that's what's going to happen. That's what happened to truth in packaging. It was watered down to the point where that really provides a consumer no basic protection. That was Professor William J Pierce of the University of Michigan Law School Professor Joseph Farr Julan associate dean of the University of Michigan Law School as presented law in the news recorded by the University of Michigan Broadcasting Service. This is the national educational radio network.
Series
Law in the news
Episode
Uniform consumer codes
Producing Organization
University of Michigan
National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-jd4pq400
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Description
Episode Description
This program discusses the issue of uniform state laws and codes.
Series Description
This series focuses on current news stories that relate to the law.
Broadcast Date
1969-03-24
Topics
Public Affairs
Politics and Government
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:05:13
Embed Code
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Credits
Producing Organization: University of Michigan
Producing Organization: National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Speaker: Julin, Joseph R.
Speaker: Pierce, William J. (William James), 1921-2004
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 61-35a-405 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:05:01
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Citations
Chicago: “Law in the news; Uniform consumer codes,” 1969-03-24, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-jd4pq400.
MLA: “Law in the news; Uniform consumer codes.” 1969-03-24. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-jd4pq400>.
APA: Law in the news; Uniform consumer codes. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-jd4pq400