The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law Contracts

by Barnett, Randy E.

• ISBN13: 9780199740185
• ISBN10: 0199740186
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Written by the leading expert in the field, The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts provides students with ready access to the basic doctrines of contract law, the story behind their evolution, and the rationales for their continued existence. An engaging book that allows students to grasp the "big picture" of contract law, it is organized around the principle that lies at the heart of contracts: consent. Beginning with the premise of "consent," the book provides a cohesive framework in which to understand the various aspects of contract law.

Author Biography

Randy E. Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center. He has taught courses on contracts, constitutional law, torts, and cyber law, among other subjects at many prestigious schools, including Harvard and the University of Chicago. Professor Barnett is an expert in the field of contract law and has written many books and articles, including major contract publications for Aspen and Princeton University Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xiii
A Short History of Contract Law	p. 1
The Common Law Writ System	p. 1
The Writs of Debt, Detinue, and Covenant	p. 2
The Rise of Assumpsit	p. 4
The Doctrinal Implications of this Story	p. 6
Law and Equity	p. 7
The Enforcement of Contracts	p. 11
Why Read about Contract Remedies Before Contract Formation?	p. 11
Money Damages: The Presumptive Form of Remedy for Breach of Contract	p. 12
Money Damages	p. 13
Measures of Money Damages	p. 13
The Expectation Measure of Contract Damages	p. 14
Why Favor the Expectation Measure?	p. 17
The Concept of Efficient Breach	p. 22
How to Compute the Expectation Measure	p. 23
Subjective Cost and Money Damages	p. 26
Measuring Damages by Cost of Completion or Diminution in Value	p. 31
Three Limitations on Contract Damages	p. 37
Remoteness or Foreseeability of Harm	p. 38
Certainty of Harm	p. 48
Avoidability of Loss	p. 53
Specific Performance	p. 58
Contracts for Land	p. 58
Contracts for Goods	p. 59
Contracts for Personal Services	p. 62
Mutual Assent	p. 67
The Objective Theory of Assent	p. 68
Reaching an Agreement	p. 75
Offers versus Preliminary Negotiations	p. 75
Offers versus Jests	p. 78
Bilateral versus Unilateral Contracts	p. 79
Interpreting the Agreement	p. 84
Resolving Ambiguity	p. 86
Resolving Vagueness	p. 92
The Hierarchy of Evidence of Meaning	p. 93
Filling Genuine Gaps in the Agreement	p. 95
Agreements with Open Terms	p. 96
Illusory Promises	p. 101
Form Contracts	p. 103
Form Contracts and the Modern Objective Approach	p. 104
Todd Rakoff's Defense and Critique of Form Contracts	p. 105
The Consensual Basis for Enforcing Form Contracts	p. 112
Limits on Enforcing Form Contracts	p. 114
UCC Section 2-207 and the Battle of the Forms	p. 122
Enforceability	p. 127
The Social Function of Consent	p. 128
Using Resources: The First-Order Problem of Knowledge	p. 128
Two Problems of Interest	p. 140
Protecting Reliance: From Subjective to Objective Consent	p. 144
The Doctrine of Consideration	p. 147
The Origins of the Doctrine of Consideration	p. 148
The Bargain Theory of Consideration	p. 150
Distinguishing Bargained-For Exchanges from Conditioned Gifts	p. 156
Preexisting Duties	p. 158
The Use of Formalities	p. 161
The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel	p. 166
Section 90 of the First and Second Restatements	p. 166
Grant Gilmore and the Death (and Rebirth) of Contract	p. 168
Promissory Estoppel as Contract: Consent to be Legally Bound	p. 174
Promissory Estoppel as Tort: Promissory Misrepresentation	p. 181
An Alternative to Section 90	p. 186
Performance and Breach	p. 189
The Duty of Good Faith Performance	p. 190
The Concept of the Duty of Good Faith Performance	p. 190
The Summers-Burton Debate	p. 191
Recapturing Forgone Opportunities	p. 194
Anticipatory Repudiation and Material Breach	p. 199
Defenses to Contractual Obligation	p. 209
Rebutting the Prima Facie Case of Contract	p. 209
Lack of Contractual Capacity	p. 213
Deficiencies in Adult Contractual Capacity	p. 213
Infancy	p. 216
Obtaining Consent by Improper Means	p. 218
Why Are Some Means of Obtaining Consent Improper?	p. 218
Misrepresentation	p. 220
Economic Duress	p. 225
Undue Influence	p. 228
Unconscionability	p. 230
The Failure of a Basic Assumption	p. 233
Tacit Assumptions and the Scope of Consent	p. 233
Unilateral Mistake and Misrepresentation	p. 238
Index	p. 249
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