Contract law as applied in the real world and not just in the law books: the classic study of the social and economic realities of contracts in commercial and trade cases, told through case studies and rich historical analysis. A recognized and oft-cited study in law & society, this volume previously hid out as a rare book or was completely unavailable. Now readily accessible and reasonably priced, it also features a new preface by the author and a new, analytical foreword by Stewart Macaulay.

This text serves as an accessible introduction to the law of contract. The headings chosen for examination track the main points in the lifetime of a contract-from its formation, drafting, and onward to its eventual dissolution, whether this occurs due to the terms of the contract, the will of the parties, or because of a breach of the agreed terms. It also provides studies of other notable areas within the subject, such as third-party rights, damages, and equitable remedies. In distinction to other guides to contract law, this text provides a comparative analysis of the area, incorporating sources drawn from both the civil law tradition, characteristic of several nations within Continental Europe, as well as the Anglo-American common law tradition, with cases and legislation drawn from England and the United States of America. It also explores contract law in the unique context of so-called hybrid jurisdictions-those that incorporate elements of both the common law and civilian traditions. As business assumes a global dimension, knowledge of the operation of contract law across various legal traditions and national contexts is increasingly at a premium. This text enables the student to gain a coherent vision of contract law, as well as to speak confidently when discussing the intricacies of the subject.

A less-expensive grayscale paperback version is available. Search for ISBN 9781680923018. Business Law I Essentials is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in a streamlined manner, and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narrative and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions. Business Law I Essentials may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials, and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches.

The essays in this book treat important aspects of most of the major themes in contemporary philosophy of law and legal theory. All reveal the distinctive authenticity of the author's work, for he is not only a reputable legal theorist but an internationally known scholar of private law, and for many years chair of the Bielefelder Kreis, an international group of legal theorists who have jointly authored major works comparing methodologies of statutory interpretation and precedent.

This first booklength survey of the 800-year evolution of Anglo-American common law contract begins in 12th-century England and extends to contemporary America, focusing on how procedural, economic, intellectual, and social considerations tempered the form of contract law and analyzing the thought of lawyers and judges throughout the period. Covers Plantagenet royal courts in England to contract law in the context of American urban, industrialized society; reviews public policy, consumerism, and codification; and poses questions about the future direction of contract law.

The common law is one of two major and successful systems of law developed in Western Europe, and in one form or another is now in force not only in the country of its origin but also in the United States and large parts of the British Commonwealth and former parts of the Empire.

This book is a history of American contract law around the turn of the twentieth century. It meticulously details shifts in our conception of contract by juxtaposing scholarly accounts of contract with case law, and shows how the cases exhibit conflicts for which scholarship offers just one of many possible answers. Breaking with conventional wisdom, the author argues that our current understanding of contract is not the outgrowth of gradual refinements of a centuries-old idea. Rather, contract as we now know it was shaped by a revolution in private law undertaken toward the end of the nineteenth century, when legal scholars established calculating promisors as the centerpiece of their notion of contract. The author maintains that the revolution in contract thinking is best understood in a frame of reference wider than the rules governing the formation and enforcement of contracts. That frame of reference is a cultural negotiation over the nature of the individual subject and the role of the individual in a society undergoing transformation. Areas of central concern include the enforceability of promises to make gifts; the relationship of contracts to speculation and gambling; and the problem of incomplete contracts.