Paul Bradley <paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk> writes:
The prospectus is a legal document -- part of the contract between the mutual fund and the customer.
So, the question is, should there be any legal constraints on the "speech" in contracts?
Of course, a contract is a binding document, that does not imply that there should be any legal constraint on the speech within that contract. If I sign a contract which says that I must kill myself on demand, and the penalty for breach of contract in this case is a fine of say $5000, I am certainly stupid if I sign such a contract, assuming that is that I am logical and not suicidal, I must later decide if I value my life at over $5000, I assure you, this is not a difficult question to answer ;-).
I don't know how they phrase it in the UK, but in the US such a contract would violate "public policy" and is therefore unenforceable.
The point is that breach of contract shouldn`t be a criminal offence, it is a civil offence, and the penalties for breach of contract should be agreed during negotiation of that contract. Therefore, I must evaluate for myself if I consider the contract to be reasonable and if I consider the penalties for breach of that contract too great to risk incurring such penaties. There is no reason to suggest that contractural speech is protected in this fashion, as it is an agreement and not pure speech.
Can I sign a contract, and later be able to say "Oh, *that* clause! That was just a *joke*"?
This is a straw man, there is no way you can equate contractural speech and other forms of speech, one takes the form of an agreement, the civil crime commited on breach of contract is not a form of speech, it is an overt act which breaks that contract.
That's a very good point. If I commit assault/battery on Kent, the gubmint supposedly has jurisdiction because I've violated "king's peace". If I advertise that "borshch cures cancer" and Kent buys some borshch from me, and dies from cancer anyway, then what's the basis for the gubmint's involvement? --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps