shape of legislation - came to intervene repeatedly to modify freedom of contract between landlord and tenant. Since Maine the movement of many "progressive" societies has been reversed. The holding of a statutory or a protected tenancy is rather a status than a pure creature of contract." Attorney General of Canada v Nav Canada (2008) FC 71, [19] Hugessen J of the Canadian Federal Court, approved the purpose of the Residential Tenancy Act in the Northwest Territories (replicated across Canadian provinces) as follows: ‘Bearing in mind the usual disparity of bargaining power and financial resources between such tenants and their landlords, the Act is evidently intended to restore the balance of power through the public employment of a rental officer to try and mediate and, if necessary, to adjudicate disputes between them.’ The Canadian Residential Tenancy Acts say residential tenancies can only be terminated with good reasons, and limit annual rental increases to a figure set by a Central Board. It should be appreciated how this differs from rent control laws, which place inflexible ceilings on any increases. See also Bargaining power Freedom of contract Wage slavery George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds Ltd [1983] QB 284 Employment Relations Act 2000 (New Zealand) Information asymmetry Intra-household bargaining Contract of adhesion Contra proferentem Notes References Books GC Cheshire and FHS Fifoot, Law of Contract (8th edn 1972) 281, 283-287 RW Clark, Inequality of bargaining power: judicial intervention in improvident and unconscionable bargains (Taylor & Francis 1987) E McGaughey, A Casebook on Labour Law (Hart 2019) ch 2 M Olson, Logic of Collective Action (1965) S Webb and B Webb, Industrial Democracy (Longmans, Green, London 1897) Articles External links Market failure Common law legal terminology Legal doctrines and principles