Law : Contracts

This book complements 'black letter' treatments of contract by looking at legal doctrine and statutes in their social, political and economic contexts. It aims to increase students understanding of the law of contract but also to convince them why it is so important to us all. more...

Price: $49.95

A man slips on a dance floor and breaks his leg. He recovers damages. A child has both legs amputated as a result of meningitis and is awarded nothing. The law's justification for awarding damages in the first case is that the man's injury was the fault of someone else, while in the second case damages are denied because nobody was at fault. In this searching critique of the present law and practice relating to damages, Professor Patrick Atiyah shows that this system is in fact a lottery. He contends that the public are paying far too much for an unfair and inefficient insurance system and that reform is long overdue. His conclusion is that actions for damages for injuries should be abolished and replaced with a new no-fault road accident scheme, and actions for other injuries should be dealt with by individual or group insurance policies. more...

Price: $36.00

The identity and existence of a loss-based defence in the law of unjust enrichment is disputed. Widely known as 'passing on', but better identified as 'disimpoverishment', this defence has generated confusion and disagreement across and within England, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. This book seeks to address these problems in three ways. First, by providing a solution to the defence's terminological problems and presenting a coherent picture of the current state of the law. Secondly, by examining whether a defendant's unjust enrichment can be said to have come 'at the expense of' a claimant when a third party has borne the cost of that enrichment. Put another way, whether awards of restitution are, or should be, restricted by the value of a claimant's loss. And finally, by analyzing the reasons in favour of accepting or rejecting a loss-based defence in the law of unjust enrichment. Numerous scholarly textbooks and law journals have devoted space to these issues. This work, however, has tended to focus narrowly on either particular cases or sets of issues. This book seeks to address this deficiency by collating, and providing total coverage of, the controversies and questions pertaining to a loss-based defence in the law of unjust enrichment.This work will be essential reading for anyone interested in the law of restitution, and in its relationship with other areas of private law. more...

Price: $122.00

Since early 2000 the European institutions have politically prioritised the need for greater coherence and uniformity in European private law. Contract law in particular has remained centre stage. Concerns that the functioning of the Community’s internal market has been hampered by divergence in Member States’ national contract rules, and that both business and consumers are dissuaded from contracting cross border, have prompted a series of landmark Communications, an Action Plan and most recently, full institutional support for the delivery of a decidedly cryptic ‘Common Frame of Reference’, comprised of general principles, model rules and uniform legal terminology. Despite a lack of convincing empirical data in support of the convergence thesis, a diminished business interest has in part allowed the proponents of a comprehensive codification of private law to set the political and academic agenda. Yet this clamour for codification has in many respects overlooked the mechanics of commercial contracting in particular, the importance of contract drafting and the complex negotiations that lead to deals both domestically and cross border. This book therefore engages with two ‘holy grails’ of modern contract scholarship – the appropriate design of EC contract rules and judicial treatment of preliminary, incomplete bargains. In so doing, the study reveals the weakness of existing soft law initiatives and framework codes in capturing the degree of specificity and complexity in the field. Instead, the case is made for a viable methodology of dispute avoidance aimed at re-conceptualising and re-orientating the harmonisation effort. more...

Price: $98.00

This volume sets out initially to test the claim that, as combinations of Civil and Common Law influences, the mixed systems of contract law in Scotland and South Africa have anticipated the content of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) concluded and published in 2003 by the unofficial Commission on European Contract Law. The studies go much further, however. Current official moves towards a European contract law within the European Union lend the critiques of PECL offered in this volume an especial urgency and significance. A European contract law is nearer to reality than ever before, and mere policy critiques of that possibility are no longer enough. Technical and substantive assessments of PECL are also essential. This book provides just such assessments from the perspective of Scots and South African contract lawyers, and is offered to the European debate without prejudice as to the deeper policy questions. At the same time it may help to inform Scots and South African lawyers about the substance of international developments in the field, and suggest ways in which their still vigorous and vital national laws may continue to be developed to remain in step with the needs of the present day. more...

Price: $97.51