Representing an unprecedented joint effort from top scholars in the field, this volume collects original contributions to examine the fundamental role of 'fault' in contract law. Is it immoral to breach a contract? Should a breaching party be punished more harshly for willful breach? Does it matter if the victim of breach engaged in contributory fault? Is there room for a calculus of fault within the 'efficient breach' framework? For generations, contract liability has been viewed as a no-fault regime, in sharp contrast to tort liability. Is this dichotomy real? Is it justified? How do the American and European traditions compare? In exploring these and related issues, the essays in this volume bring together a variety of outlooks, including economic, psychological, philosophical, and comparative approaches to law.

This textbook is an engaging introduction to the more advanced writings on contract law, primarily designed to allow students to 'get under the skin' of the topic and begin to build their critical thinking and analysis skills. Each chapter is structured around key questions and debates that provoke deeper thought and, ultimately, a clearer understanding. This edition has been extensively rewritten to include new cases and scholarship throughout. New sections include 'no oral modification' clauses, substantive fairness, regulation of standard-form contracts, and remoteness of damage in contract. An excellent book for students of contract law who wish to know more, the aim of the book is not to present a complete overview of theoretical issues in contract law, but rather to illustrate the current debates which are currently going on among those working in shaping the area. The text features summaries of the views of notable experts on key topics and each chapter ends with a list of guided further reading. New to this Edition: - Extensively rewritten to include new cases and scholarship throughout. - New sections and debates include 'no oral modification' clauses, substantive fairness, regulation of standard-form contracts, and remoteness of damage in contract.

Contracts, the foundation of economic activity, are both vital and misunderstood. Contracts in the Real World, 2nd edition corrects common misunderstandings through a series of engaging stories involving such notable individuals as Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Lady Gaga, and Donald Trump. Capturing the essentials of this subject, the book explores recurring issues in contracting and shows how age-old precedents and wisdom still apply today and how contract law's inherent dynamism cautions against exuberant reforms. The accessible yet rigorous approach will appeal to the general reader and specialists alike, and to both teachers and students of contracts.

This book presents, analyses and evaluates the Principles of Latin American Contract Law (PLACL), a recent set of provisions aiming at the harmonisation of contract law at a regional level. As such, the PLACL are the most recent exponent of the many proposals for transnational sets of 'principles of contract law' that were drafted or published over the past 20 years, either at the global or the regional level. These include the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, the Principles of European Contract Law, the (European) Draft Common Frame of Reference and the Principles of Asian Contract Law. The PLACL are the product of a working group comprising legal academics from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. The 111 articles of the instrument deal with problems of general contract law, such as formation, interpretation and performance of contracts, as well as remedies for breach. The book aims to introduce the PLACL to an international audience by putting them in their historical and comparative context, including other transnational harmonisation measures and initiatives. The contributions are authored by drafters of the PLACL and contract law experts from Europe and Latin America.

The contributions to this edited volume engage with John Gardner's philosophical work on private law. The content is divided into three parts. The first part gathers contributions on general theoretical issues that bear upon private law. The second part is concerned with Gardner's well-known views on responding to wrongs and the justification of reparative duties - an issue that spans all of private law. The third part turns to theoretical issues within particular areas of private law. Its focus is Gardner's focus: tort law, but it also includes chapters on contract law and equity. The primary aim of Private Law and Practical Reason is to facilitate a critical assessment of the private law thinking of one of the most important legal philosophers of the last fifty years. Gardner's contributions to private law theory are recognised to be amongst the most significant and philosophically rich. This work assembles a group of contributors with diverse theoretical commitments, many of whom have not directly engaged previously with Gardner's work, and is intended to act as a reference point for central debates in private law theory, such as the role of moral duties, the justification of reparative obligations, and, more broadly, the role of reasons in private law.

Contract is not only a spirit and a concept, but also a system and a method. As a spirit and a concept, it is very inclusive; as a system and a method, it is very practical. Contract is a theory with a long history and fruitful practice. The reform of administrative law starts with the contract. The author is honored to be one of the first scholars in mainland China to introduce the concept and basic system of civil contracts into administrative law. Although mainland China has not yet established the legality of administrative contracts through the legislative method of administrative procedure law, the research and promotion of a group of scholars in mainland China, including the author, mainland China revised the Administrative Litigation Law at the 11th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress in 2014, and for the first time included administrative agreement disputes in the scope of administrative litigation. The Supreme People's Court Trial Committee also passed the judicial interpretation of the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Administrative Agreement Cases" at the 1,781st meeting on November 12, 2019, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. The great progress of administrative contracts in administrative justice is inseparable from the efforts of the first batch of administrative contract pioneers in mainland China, including the author! It is also a great affirmation and praise, for which the author is deeply gratified!

This comprehensive book provides a comparative overview of legal institutions that intersect with everyday life: contracts, unilateral legal transactions, torts, negotiorum gestio and unjust enrichment. These institutions form the core of the Law of Obligations, which is examined in this book from the perspective of all major legal traditions including Civil, Common, Islamic and Chinese law.

Commercial contract law is in every sense optional given the choice between legal systems and law and arbitration. Its 'doctrines' are in fact virtually all default rules. Contract Law Minimalism advances the thesis that commercial parties prefer a minimalist law that sets out to enforce what they have decided - but does nothing else. The limited capacity of the legal process is the key to this 'minimalist' stance. This book considers evidence that such minimalism is indeed what commercial parties choose to govern their transactions. It critically engages with alternative schools of thought, that call for active regulation of contracts to promote either economic efficiency or the trust and co-operation necessary for 'relational contracting'. The book also necessarily argues against the view that private law should be understood non-instrumentally (whether through promissory morality, corrective justice, taxonomic rationality, or otherwise). It sketches a restatement of English contract law in line with the thesis.

Foundational Principles of Contract Law not only sets out the principles and rules of contract law, it places more emphasis on what the principles and rules of contract law should be, based on policy, morality, and experience. A major premise of the book is that the best way to grasp contract law is to understand it from a critical perspective as an organic, dynamic subject. When contract law is approached in this way it is much easier to grasp and learn than when it is presented simply as a static collection of principles and rules. Professor Eisenberg covers almost all areas of contract law, including the enforceability of promises, remedies for breach of contract, problems of assent, form contracts, the effect of mistake and changed circumstances, interpretation, and problems of performance. Although the emphasis of the book is on the principles and rules of contract law, it also covers important theories in contract law, such as the theory of efficient breach, the theory of overreliance, the normative theory of contracts, formalism, and theories of contract interpretation.