Binding Promises (eBook)

The Late 20th-Century Reformation of Contract Law

W. David Slawson (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

1996
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-2196-9 (ISBN)

Infos

W. David Slawson is Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law at the University of Southern California. He is the author of The New Inflation: The Collapse of Free Markets (Princeton).

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During its classical period, American contract law had three prominent characteristics: nearly unlimited freedom to choose the contents of a contract, a clear separation from the law of tort (the law of civil wrongs), and the power to make contracts without regard to the other party's ability to understand them. Combining incisive historical analysis with a keen sense of judicial politics, W. David Slawson shows how judges brought the classical period to an end about 1960 with a period of reform that continues to this day.American contract law no longer possesses any of the prominent characteristics of its classical period. For instance, courts now refuse to enforce standard contracts according to their terms; they implement the consumer's reasonable expectations instead. Businesses can no longer count on making the contracts they want: laws for certain industries or for businesses generally set many business obligations regardless of what the contracts say. A person who knowingly breaches a contract and then tries to avoid liability is subject to heavy penalties.As Slawson demonstrates, judges accomplished all these reforms, although with some help from scholars. Legislation contributed very little despite its presence in massive amounts and despite the efforts of modern institutions of law reform such as the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Slawson argues persuasively that this comparison demonstrates the superiority of judge-made law to legislation for reforming private law of any kind.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.7.1996
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Privatrecht / Bürgerliches Recht
• Themenwelt: Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Adequate remedy • American rule (attorney's fees) • appellate court • Arthur Allen Leff • attempt • Bankruptcy • Bargaining Power • Breach of Contract • burglary • Business Ethics • caveat emptor • Cease and desist • Class action • Common Law • concurrence • Consequential damages • Consideration • Constitutional economics • Contingent fee • Contract • Contra proferentem • Crime • Culpability • damages • defendant • Disclaimer • Due Process Clause • Economic Power • Economics • Efficient breach • Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution • embezzlement • Encumbrance • estoppel • Expectation damages • Fair dealing • Fraud • freedom of contract • good faith • Good faith (Law) • Gross negligence • Implied warranty • Impracticability • impunity • Inequality of bargaining power • insurance • insurance fraud • insurance policy • Intention (criminal law) • John J. Donohue III • Judicial interpretation • Jurisdiction • lawyer • Legal burden of proof • Legislation • Legislative history • level playing field • liability insurance • Liberalization • lochner era • Lochner v. New York • malicious prosecution • Market power • misdemeanor • Misfeasance • Misrepresentation • Necessity • negligence • New Trial • obsolescence • Offer and acceptance • parol evidence rule • perjury • Personal injury • plaintiff • Precedent • presumption • Privity of contract • Procedural due process • Product Liability • Provision (accounting) • Punitive damages • Reasonable Person • Recommendation (European Union) • Settlement offer • Standing (law) • Statute • Statute of limitations • Substantive Due Process • Summary judgment • Tax • Term limit • Tort • Tortious interference • unconscionability • unfair dismissal • unjust enrichment • Warranty • Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. • wrongdoing
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-2196-7 / 1400821967
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-2196-9 / 9781400821969