Have you heard the one about the 5-year-old trader and the £50,000 losses? No, actually, it’s not a joke…

Two recent cases in Europe indicate how courts across Europe will apply rules on the enforceability of online contracts. In one case, the UK High Court held that a man, who blamed his girlfriend’s five year old son for running up £50,000 of losses in online spread betting, was not bound by a provision in online terms and conditions that made him responsible for trades made on his account. The online operator had to bear the loss even though it’s not clear what more it could have done and, to the extent that any “fault” existed, surely it was on the part of the careless online user.

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