Report No. 20

3. Legislation in other countries.-

In Australia, every State has its own legislation on the subject of hire-purchase agreements, the latest being an Act of the State of Victoria of the year 1959.1 The provisions of these Acts are designed to give relief to the hirer against harsh and unconscionable terms in the agreements. Hire-purchase agreements form a substantial segment of American business. In 1918, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws compiled the "Uniform Conditional Sales Act", with reference to hire-purchase agreements, and that has, in general, been adopted by many of the States, while some of them have their own legislation on the subject. While taking into consideration all the above materials, we have adapted the English Acts of 1938 and 1954 as the basis for the present draft, introducing therein such alterations as would seem to be called for in the conditions prevalent in this country. And these we proceed to explain.

1. The Hire-Purchase Agreements Act, 1959 Victoria). A Bill on hire-purchase agreements was introduced in the legislature of New South Wales in 1959.