Hi, > The UK's are based on one, the Sale of Goods Act 1898 (I think) that > states that all goods must be of "merchantable quality" and "fit for > purpose". There are many descendants of this law. It is heavily biased > towards the consumer, I suspect to protect the upper and middle classes > of the time from the hordes of rogue traders they had to deal with.
you haven't been paying attention have you, Mike! Still, what can we expect from a Celt? <g> In one of his 'What the Victorians Did For Us' programmes Adam Hart-Davies talked about this. The shopkeepers of the time were making biscuits and so on from the sweepings, rat fur and mouse crap on their shopfloors and selling them cheap to the workers. These wholesome practices also gave rise to branding, giving consumers some way to recognise quality (!). -- Cheers, Bob
