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'Contract as Promise' is a study of the foundations and structure of contract law. It has both theoretical and pedagogic purposes. It moves from trust to promise to the nuts and bolts of contract law. The author shows that contract law has an underlying unifying moral and practical structure. This second edition retains the original text, and includes a new Preface. It also includes a lengthy postscript that takes account of scholarly and practical developments in the field over the last thirty years, especially the large and rich law and economics literature.

This text explains and analyzes the law of contract, and provides a detailed examination of many areas of controversy and difficulty. Amongst recent developments examined is the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Bill.