The Fine Print Ethics

I wonder when did Fine Print on packages come into being? And what triggered it?

Was it the fact that some product manufacturer lost a lawsuit? Or was it because a manufacturer wanted to get away with something sneaky?

Whenever it came, I think that was the end of the age of common-sense. Everything now had to be spelt out - the obvious and the not-so-obvious.

But there is no substitute for common-sense, and for good intent.

As long as our juries award outrageous rewards for an unintentional error by the manufacturer, and as long as there are manufacturers/produces out there to sneak things in by the back-door - there is no return to common-sense.

Just more words and words and words and words.