As Qatar's aspirations of becoming a key location for international dispute settlement and international trade grow, so too does the importance of understanding private law in Qatar and the Gulf states. In this innovative book, Ilias Bantekas and Ahmed Al-Ahmed provide an original, English-language treatise on the contract law of Qatar. Using an abundance of case law, the authors combine scholarly and practice-oriented expertise to develop a comprehensive treatment of Qatari contract law. The analysis is drawn from a wealth of judgements from the Qatari Court of Cassation and Court of Appeal, much of which was previously inaccessible to readers. Bringing sophisticated, detailed insights on Qatari law to an English-speaking legal audience, this is a vital text for academics, practitioners and students who wish to comprehend this increasingly influential global player. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

“One of the most important contributions to the field of contract theory—if not the most important—in the past 25 years.” —Stephen A. Smith, McGill University Can we account for contract law on a moral basis that is acceptable from the standpoint of liberal justice? To answer this question, Peter Benson develops a theory of contract that is completely independent of—and arguably superior to—long-dominant views, which take contract law to be justified on the basis of economics or promissory morality. Through a detailed analysis of contract principles and doctrines, Benson brings out the specific normative conception underpinning the whole of contract law. Contract, he argues, is best explained as a transfer of rights, which is complete at the moment of agreement and is governed by a definite conception of justice—justice in transactions. Benson’s analysis provides what John Rawls called a public basis of justification, which is as essential to the liberal legitimacy of contract as to any other form of coercive law. The argument of Justice in Transactions is expressly complementary to Rawls’s, presenting an original justification designed specifically for transactions, as distinguished from the background institutions to which Rawls’s own theory applies. The result is a field-defining work offering a comprehensive theory of contract law. Benson shows that contract law is both justified in its own right and fully congruent with other domains—moral, economic, and political—of liberal society.

This innovative and accessible text offers a straightforward and clear introduction to the law of contract suitable for use across geographical boundaries. It introduces the key principles of contract law by comparing solutions from different jurisdictions and has an innovative design with text boxes, colour and graphics, making it a highly attractive tool for studying. This revised second edition has been updated to reflect the most recent changes in the law, including the French reform of the law of obligations and the new UK Consumer Rights Act. A whole new chapter on contracts and third parties has also been added.

Every legal system must decide how to distinguish between agreements that are enforceable and those that are not. Formal bargains in the marketplace and casual promises in a social setting mark the two extremes, but many hard cases lie between. When gaps are left in a contract, how should courts fill them? What does it mean to say that an agreement is legally enforceable? If someone breaks a legally enforceable contract, what consequences follow? For 150 years, legal scholars have debated whether a set of coherent principles provide answers to such basic questions. Oliver Wendell Holmes put forward the affirmative case, arguing that bargained-for consideration, expectation damages, and a handful of related ideas captured the essence of contract law. The work of the next several generations, culminating in Grant Gilmore’s The Death of Contract in 1974, took a contrary view. The coherence Holmes had tried to bring to the field was illusory. It was more sensible to see contracts as merely a species of civil obligation and resist the temptation to impose rigid and artificial rules. In Reconstructing Contracts, Douglas Baird takes stock of the current state of contract doctrine and in the process reinvigorates the classic framework of Anglo-American contract law. He shows that Holmes’s principles are fundamentally sound. Even if they lack that talismanic quality formerly ascribed to them, properly understood they continue to provide the best guide to contracts for a new generation of students, practitioners, and judges.

Contract Law for Students is a clear and accessible textbook aimed at undergraduate law students as well as those attempting either set of professional exams: FE-1s for solicitors or Kings Inns entrance exams for barristers. This title offers concise yet comprehensive insight into the law of contract and is ideally suited to students and researchers. From Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company (1893) through to unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations, this textbook covers all aspects of contract law relevant to students - including a handy chapter on navigating the professional exams which contains practical guidance for students embarking on their journey towards becoming a barrister or solicitor.

This accessible textbook helps students learn essential transactional skills by explaining the meaning and purpose of common contract clauses and exploring some potential pitfalls associated with their use. Nancy Kim utilizes select case summaries and contract clause examples to illustrate doctrinal concepts and how they may affect a transaction. The Fundamentals of Contract Law and Clauses will prove to be an invaluable resource in the classroom, as it will support law students in becoming preventive lawyers by teaching them how to preempt problems, reduce risks and add value to transactions.

The dramatic growth of government over the course of the twentieth century since the New Deal prompts concern among libertarians and conservatives and also among those who worry about government’s costs, efficiency, and quality of service. These concerns, combined with rising confidence in private markets, motivate the widespread shift of federal and state government work to private organizations. This shift typically alters only who performs the work, not who pays or is ultimately responsible for it. “Government by contract” now includes military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. Outsourcing government work raises questions of accountability. What role should costs, quality, and democratic oversight play in contracting out government work? What tools do citizens and consumers need to evaluate the effectiveness of government contracts? How can the work be structured for optimal performance as well as compliance with public values? Government by Contract explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.