Foundations of Private Law Property, Tort, Contract, Unjust Enrichment

by Gordley, James

• ISBN13: 9780199291670
• ISBN10: 0199291675
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Foundations of Private Law is a treatise on the Western law of property,contract, tort and unjust enrichment in both common law systems and civil lawsystems. The thesis of the book is that underlying these fields of law arecommon principles, and that these principles can be used to explain the historyand development of these areas. These underlying common principles are mattersof common sense, which were given their archetypal expression by older juristswho wrote in the Aristotelian tradition. These principles shaped thedevelopment of Western law but can resolve legal problems which these olderwriters did not confront.

Author Biography

James Gordley received a B.A (1967) and M.B.A. (1968) from the University of Chicago and a J.D. (1970) from Harvard Law School. After a year in private practice and a fellowship in Italy, he became Ezra Ripley Thayer Fellow at Harvard Law School and then fellow at the Medieval Institute of Canon Law at Berkeley, he joined the Berkeley Law Faculty in 1978 where he became a full professor in 1981, and Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence in 1996. He is currently Co-Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law, a member titulaire of the International Academy of Comparative Law, a member of the Consulting Board of The European Review of Contract Law, and a member of the Board of Editors, Trento Project on the Common Core of European Law.

Table of Contents

I. THE ENTERPRISE
1. Basic Principles	7	(25)
2. Differences Among Legal Systems	32	(17)
II. PROPERTY
3. Possession and Ownership	49	(17)
4. The Extent of the Right to Use Property: Nuisance, Troubles de Voisinage and Immissionenrecht	66	(15)
5. Private Modification of the Right to Use Property: Servitudes	81	(22)
6. Rights Annexed to the Use of Property: The Case of Water Rights	103	(27)
7. Loss of Resources Without the Owner's Consent: Necessity and Adverse Possession	130	(16)
8. Acquisition of Resources Without a Prior Owner's Consent: Minerals, Capture, Found Property	146	(13)
III. TORTS
9. The Structure of the Modern Civil and Common Law of Torts	159	(23)
10. The Defendant's Conduct: Intent, Negligence, Strict Liability	182	(35)
11. Liability in Tort for Harm to Reputation, Dignity, Privacy, and 'Personality'	217	(46)
12. Liability in Tort for Pure Economic Loss	263	(26)
IV. CONTRACTS
13. Promises	289	(18)
14. Mistake	307	(29)
15. Impossibility and Unexpected Circumstances	336	(16)
16. Promises to Make a Gift	352	(9)
17. Promises to Exchange	361	(27)
18. Liability for Breach of Contract	388	(31)
V. UNJUST ENRICHMENT
19. The Principle Against Unjustified Enrichment	419	(14)
20. Restitution Without Enrichment?	433	(12)
21. Remedies in Restitution	445	(14)
Index	459