Contracts: Secondary Materials

"Every chapter in this innovative casebook places students in roles as practitioners handling simulated law practice problems; provides context in the form of an overview of the law, similar to that which an attorney would read before reading cases in a new subject area; includes questions designed to encourage students to find the applicable statutes and cases on point in the state where the student is planning to practice law; includes exercises, visual aids, and case reading scaffolds, designed to engage students with a wide range of learning styles; and ends with professionalism questions addressing ethical and professional identity questions suggested by the materials in the chapter." -- From the publisher

"Highly regarded by law professors and students alike, Contracts Texts includes more of Restatements 2d than any other supplement, and includes UCC Article 2, with just the right amount of comments. This 700 page paperback volume brings to you the full richness of these primary sources of the law of contracts. Unlike all other Contracts supplements, this text provides the key elements of the Restatement 2d Comments and Illustrations. UCC Article 2 (1995) is also reprinted including all of the Official Comments - plus the relevant sections from UCC Articles 1 and 9." -- From the publisher.

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 which incorporate elements of both the common law and civilian traditions; chosen for study here are exemplary jurisdictions represented by the American state of Louisiana and Scotland in the United Kingdom. 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 across a wide range of legal and theoretical frameworks, as well as to speak confidently when discussing the intricacies of the subject. It is at once an introductory text, as well as a reference text, which students and professionals alike can consult in the course of their studies and future careers.

This book seeks to provide a moral basis for contract law that can not only make sense of its main doctrines in their own terms but also bring out the distinct conception of justice that actually animates them. The author shows in detail that this conception of justice is purely transactional and non-distributive in character but at the same time that it fits within a larger framework of liberal justice that includes robust principles of distributive justice such as Rawls's. Even though the focus of the work is on the common law of contract, the proposed theory bears on the justification of modern contract law in other legal traditions as well, such as the civil law.-- Provided by publisher.

"Why should the law care about enforcing contracts? We tend to think of a contract as the legal embodiment of a moral obligation to keep a promise. When two parties enter into a transaction, they are obligated as moral beings to play out the transaction in the way that both parties expect. But this overlooks a broader understanding of the moral possibilities of the market. Just as Shakespeare's Shylock can stand on his contract with Antonio not because Antonio is bound by honor but because the enforcement of contracts is seen as important to maintaining a kind of social arrangement, today's contracts serve a fundamental role in the functioning of society. With The Dignity of Commerce, Nathan B. Oman argues persuasively that well functioning markets are morally desirable in and of themselves and thus a fit object of protection through contract law. Markets, Oman shows, are about more than simple economic efficiency. To do business with others, we must demonstrate understanding of and satisfy their needs. This ability to see the world from another's point of view inculcates key virtues that support a liberal society. Markets also provide a context in which people can peacefully cooperate in the absence of political, religious, or ideological agreement. Finally, the material prosperity generated by commerce has an ameliorative effect on a host of social ills, from racial discrimination to environmental destruction"--Publisher's website