The State and the Consumer
| Date | 01 July 1936 |
| Author | Julian S. Huxley |
| Published date | 01 July 1936 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1936.tb02435.x |
The
State
and
the
Consumer
By
Professor
JULIAN
Si
HUXLEY,
M.A.
[Paper
to
be discussed
at
the Summer Conference, Oxford,
July,
19361
I.-~ONSUMER
PROTECTION
HISTORIC
ROLE
OF
GOVERNMENT
LTHOUGH
one of the clearest lessons we now learn from history
A
is
that there never were any
good
old days,
we
ought not to
fmget that even in mediaval
times
the State tried to protect
its
sub-
jects from some
of
the evils to which they were exposed
by
the
rapacity
of
merchants and craftsmen, It
will
be unnecessary
to
remind you that human nature has not changed very remarkably
since then and that the consumer to-day has his grievances just
as
he had four
or
five hundred
years
ago.
From the earliest days
of
statute law there have been Acts against
short weight and bad quality
of
foodstuffs. The
Assisa
Punis
of
51
Henry
I11
(A.D.
1266)
threatened defaulting butchers and bakers
with
the pillory from. which they could not bribe themselves free,
even with untold silver
or
gold. Succeeding statutes
in
the reigns
of later kings and queens attempted to protect Englishmen from
adulteration
of
all
kinds:
stinking fish, bad beer, rotten butter, hops
mixed with wood, straw, leaves and stalks, to mention ody a few.
So
complex did the law become that it soon threw an intolerable
burden on the justices
of
the peace,
the
chief executive officers
o€
the Government in the days before the growth
of
the central and local
civil service.
Through the
J.P.s,
in fact,
the
Government attempted
a
wide-
spread technical control
of
many branches of industry mainly
inspired by the desire to protect consumers
of
industrial products.
Legislation
in
the middle of the sixteenth century,
for
instance,
required the
J.Ps
to appoint overseers and searchers to regulate
the
cloth industry. Among
the
J.P.s’
other functions were the supervision
of
the
food
and drink trade and price-fixing for these commodities.
Traders attempting to manipulate &e market against consumers were
continually threatened
.by
laws against forestalling, regrating and
247
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