Question

(Business Law)

Why does the UCC distinguish between merchants and nonmerchants by holding merchants to a higher standard in some instances?

Answer 1

A merchant is a trader whose profession is to carry out buying and/or selling. Now for example if someone sells a car once (his personal car) he may not be classified as a merchant because that is not his primary activity and source of livelihood. He would not be classified merchant because it was just a one off thing.
On the other hand, someone who sells a car regularly lets say some cars each month, then he would be classified as a merchant.

Now someone who makes a profession of selling cars shall have higher standards as they are doing it as a livelihood. They need more rules and regulations in order that they do not behave unethically. Moreover a person who sells car once is more likely to behave ethically as his primary motive is to sell car (maybe to buy a new one) and not have a higher profit.