>So "if we really believed in the free market", we should regulate the details of how a private transaction can take place? The information that has to be expr

>So "if we really believed in the free market", we should regulate the details of how a private transaction can take place? The information that has to be expressly stated as part of a contract is not some minor detail. It is at the very core of enabling free markets in the first place. Some seem to think of free markets as a sort of natural phenomenon and of regulations as a distortion. But that isn't true at all. Contracts, property rights and the responsibilities of all participants in a trade are concepts of law. Without them you would have to rely on implicit cultural conventions and resolve disputes by means of duels and vendettas.