Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Bryantown is an unincorporated community in Charles County, Maryland, United States, adjacent to Maryland Route 5. Bryantown stands on land known as Boarman's Manor, a 4,000 acre manor granted to Major William Boarman in 1674. . Bryantown is associated with the flight in 1865 of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, and its St. Mary's Church is the burial place of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who lived 5 miles to the north, and who in November 1864 had first met Booth at the church (see article on Mudd).