Article Sidebar

Download
Download Article

Main Article Content

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of the principle of good faith in digital agreements within a civil law framework, focusing specifically on consumer protection in electronic contracts. The research aims to analyze how technological developments, platform-based contracting, and data-driven business models have reshaped the doctrinal meaning and operational function of good faith in contemporary digital markets. Employing a qualitative research design based on systematic literature review and doctrinal analysis, the study synthesizes recent academic scholarship, regulatory developments, and legal interpretations concerning electronic contracts, transparency obligations, unfair terms, and digital content regulation. The findings reveal that good faith has evolved from a predominantly interpretative and corrective principle into a broader governance standard encompassing transparency-based fairness, protection of reasonable consumer expectations, control of unilateral modification clauses, and accountability in algorithmic decision-making. The study further identifies a growing convergence between contract law, consumer protection law, and data protection regulation, indicating that good faith increasingly functions as a connective normative principle across digital regulatory regimes. The research concludes that sustainable digital contract governance requires reconceptualizing good faith as a structural fairness standard capable of addressing informational and technological asymmetries in electronic commerce.

Keywords

Good Faith Digital Contracts Consumer Protection Electronic Agreements Contract Law

Article Details

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite
Mochammad, F. H. (2026). The Transformation of the Principle of Good Faith in Digital Agreements: A Civil Law Analysis of Consumer Protection in Electronic Contracts . Golden Ratio of Law and Social Policy Review, 5(2), 267–277. https://doi.org/10.52970/grlspr.v5i2.1012
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX

References

  1. Ben-Shahar, O., & Schneider, C. E. (2014). More than you wanted to know: The failure of mandated disclosure. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850792
  2. Brownsword, R. (1994). Good faith in contract revisited. Current Legal Problems, 47(1), 111–141. https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/47.1.111
  3. Busch, C. (2019). Implementing personalized law: Personalized disclosures in consumer law and data privacy law. University of Chicago Law Review, 86(2), 309–348. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3242296
  4. Cafaggi, F., & Micklitz, H. W. (2017). Administrative and judicial collective enforcement of consumer law in the US and the European Community. European Review of Private Law, 25(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.54648/erpl2017001
  5. Collins, H. (2018). Contract law and the constitutionalization of private law. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38(2), 235–260. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqy001
  6. De Franceschi, A. (2016). European contract law and the digital single market. Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, 5(5), 179–184. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2846184
  7. De Franceschi, A., & Schulze, R. (2020). Digital revolution—New challenges for consumer law. Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, 9(3), 131–136. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3615953
  8. Grundmann, S. (2017). The constitutionalization of European contract law. European Review of Contract Law, 13(2), 101–130. https://doi.org/10.1515/ercl-2017-0007
  9. Howells, G., & Weatherill, S. (2017). Consumer protection law. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315690105
  10. Mak, V. (2018). The constitutionalization of European private law. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38(3), 505–528. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqy020
  11. Mak, V., & Tjong Tjin Tai, E. (2019). Algorithmic contracts and good faith. Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, 8(4), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3433726
  12. Micklitz, H. W. (2015). The politics of judicial cooperation in the EU. Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, 17, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/cel.2015.1
  13. Micklitz, H. W., & Reich, N. (2018). The Court and sleeping beauty: The revival of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive. Common Market Law Review, 51(3), 771–808. https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2014055
  14. Ranchordás, S. (2019). Nudging citizens through technology in smart cities. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 33(3), 254–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2019.1587163
  15. Ranchordás, S. (2020). Experimental regulations for AI: Sandboxes for digital innovation. Law, Innovation and Technology, 12(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2020.1723514
  16. Reyna, A. (2019). What place for fairness in digital content contracts? European Journal of Consumer Law, 2019(2), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.54648/ejcl2019007
  17. Whittaker, S. (2004). Good faith in European contract law. Cambridge Law Journal, 63(2), 404–433. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008197304000246
  18. Zimmermann, R., & Whittaker, S. (2000). Good faith in European contract law. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493652
  19. Leenes, R., & Lucivero, F. (2021). Moral and legal dimensions of digital consent. Journal of Law and Information Science, 31(2), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlis.2021.13
  20. van Schalkwyk, P. (2020). Digital platform contracts and consumer fairness: Emerging doctrinal perspectives. Journal of Consumer Policy, 43(4), 613–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-020-09478-1
  21. Zhu, J., & Gao, L. (2022). Algorithmic opacity and consumer protection: A contract law perspective. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 30(4), 369–391. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaa026
  22. Liu, X., & Wang, Y. (2022). Standard form contracts in digital markets: Fairness, consent, and regulatory innovation. Computer Law & Security Review, 47, 105667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2022.105667
  23. Martins, D., & Silva, T. (2023). Consumer expectations and digital contract modifications. Journal of European Consumer Law, 2023(1), 87–110. https://doi.org/10.54648/ejcl2023005
  24. Singh, R., & Gupta, N. (2023). Consumer data rights and contract fairness online. Journal of Business Ethics, 182(3), 745–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04835-y
  25. Kim, E., & Park, S. (2023). Platform governance and fairness in electronic contracting. Information & Communications Technology Law, 32(2), 234–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.2023.2170894
  26. Romero, D., & Serna, A. (2024). Contractual balance in digital ecosystems: A comparative study. Journal of Consumer Policy, 47(1), 99–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-023-09512-3