Legal Aspects of Public Procurement, Third Edition provides a glimpse into the relationships between the legal, ethical, and professional standards of public procurement, outlining not only the interconnections of federal, state, and local law but also best practice under comprehensive judicial standards. The book addresses the ever-changing legal structures that work in conjunction and define the public procurement profession, providing recommended guidance for how practitioners can engage in the function while staying ethically aligned. Instead of trying to address every issue at the heart of public procurement, however, the book seeks to establish the history and spirit of the law, outlining how practitioners can engage proactively and willingly to not only perform their function, but to also become advocates for procurement law modernization. This third edition features new chapters on competitive sealed proposals and contract administration, as well as a thoroughly revised and updated chapter on procurement of information technology to better relate to an increasingly digital world. Promoting a start-to-finish guidance of the procurement process, Legal Aspects of Public Procurement explores the relationships between solicitation, proposals, contract administration, and the cutting-edge aspects of technology procurements, providing a theoretical and case-study driven foundation for novice and veteran practitioners alike.

This 2005 examination of twelve case studies about mistake, fraud and duties to inform reveals significant differences about how contract law works in thirteen European legal systems and, despite the fact that the solutions proposed are often similar, what divergent values underlie the legal rules. Whereas some jurisdictions recognise increasing duties to inform in numerous contracts so that the destiny of mistake and fraud (classical defects of consent) may appear to be uncertain, other jurisdictions continue to refuse such duties as a general rule or fail to recognise the need to protect one of the parties where there is an imbalance in bargaining power or information. Avoiding preconceptions as to where and why these differences exist, this book first examines the historical origins and development of defects of consent, then considers the issues from a comparative and critical standpoint.

Anglo-American private law has been a far more complex phenomenon than has been usually recognized. Attempts to reduce it to a single explanatory principle, or to a precisely classified or categorized map, scheme, or diagram, are liable to distort the past by omitting or marginalizing material inconsistent with proposed principles or schemes. This study will be of importance to all who are interested in property, tort, contract, unjust enrichment, legal reasoning, legal method, the history of the common law, and the relation between legal theory and legal history.

Anglo-American private law has been a far more complex phenomenon than has been usually recognized. Attempts to reduce it to a single explanatory principle, or to a precisely classified or categorized map, scheme, or diagram, are liable to distort the past by omitting or marginalizing material inconsistent with proposed principles or schemes. This study will be of importance to all who are interested in property, tort, contract, unjust enrichment, legal reasoning, legal method, the history of the common law, and the relation between legal theory and legal history.

A systematic presentation of the general law of irregularity in performance.

* No other book captures how construction industry relationships and practices have influenced the common law of contracts in the United States

The Study Group on a European Civil Code has taken upon itself the task of drafting common European principles for the most important aspects of the law of obligations and for certain parts of the law of property in movables which are especially relevant for the functioning of the common market.
Like the Commission on European Contract Law's "Principles of European Contract Law," the results of the research conducted by the Study Group on a European Civil Code seek to advance the process of Europeanization of private law. Among other topics the series tackles sales and service contracts, distribution contracts and security rights, renting contracts and loan agreements, negotiorum gestio, delicts and unjustified enrichment law, transfer of property, and trust law.
The principles furnish each of the national jurisdictions a grid of reference. They can be agreed upon by the parties within the framework of the rules of private international law. They may provide a stimulus to both the national and European legislator for molding private law. Beyond this, they aim to further discussion about the creation of a European Civil Code, or a Common Frame of Reference in the area of patrimonial law, by submitting a concrete model.
The "Principles of European Law" are published in co-operation with Bruylant (Belgium), Oxford University Press (United Kingdom) and Staempfli Publishers Ltd. (Switzerland).

Professor James Gordley opens this volume with a concise history of the legal status of promises. In the central part of the book legal experts examine how twelve modern European legal systems deal with fifteen concrete situations in which a promise may not be enforceable--situations that include gifts, loans, bailments, houses, rewards, and brokerage contracts. Despite differences in legal doctrine, the volume reveals similarities in the results. This is the second completed project of The Common Core of European Private Law launched at the University of Trento.

Written by a member of the FIDIC President's List of Adjudicators, this detailed and critical commentary on the FIDIC Red Book provides authoritative guidance and recommendations for best practice. Focusing on each Clause of the Condition of Contract, this book identifies pitfalls and logistics issues associated with its enforcement and ancillary processes, to give readers an advantage when operating with the FIDIC Red Book. Intended to promote the best use and growth of FIDIC, this guide will be essential for all users of the FIDIC Red Book, be they contractors, lawyers, engineers, students training to join these industries or any professional involved in the resolution of disputes involving the FIDIC Red Book.

This book is a history of American contract law around the turn of the twentieth century. It meticulously details shifts in our conception of contract by juxtaposing scholarly accounts of contract with case law, and shows how the cases exhibit conflicts for which scholarship offers just one of many possible answers. Breaking with conventional wisdom, the author argues that our current understanding of contract is not the outgrowth of gradual refinements of a centuries-old idea. Rather, contract as we now know it was shaped by a revolution in private law undertaken toward the end of the nineteenth century, when legal scholars established calculating promisors as the centerpiece of their notion of contract. The author maintains that the revolution in contract thinking is best understood in a frame of reference wider than the rules governing the formation and enforcement of contracts. That frame of reference is a cultural negotiation over the nature of the individual subject and the role of the individual in a society undergoing transformation. Areas of central concern include the enforceability of promises to make gifts; the relationship of contracts to speculation and gambling; and the problem of incomplete contracts.

This study is an examination of the purposes, efficiency, and efficacy of legal regulation of contracts that draws on economics, sociology, and law to suggest how legal regulation fails and how it might be improved.

Interpretation or construction is central to the operation of contract law. Despite the fundamental role it plays, there have been limited attempts to explain construction in holistic terms. This important book aims to fill that gap by offering a systematic exposition of the iterative process. It also goes further, suggesting practical solutions to disputes regarding questions of interpretation. The book argues that construction is not simply about establishing what words mean; it is a process through which objective intention is inferred from the choice of words in a contract. The interpretive process involves four steps: formulate the question of interpretation in dispute; explore competing answers to the question; analyse the admissible material supporting each interpretation; and weigh and balance the competing considerations. By so doing, the book offers a simple yet sophisticated framework for interpreting/constructing contracts.

Using an interdisciplinary approach involving economics, sociology, and law, Regulating Contracts explores fundamental questions about contracts and legal regulation. What kind of social relation do contracts create, or, more precisely, how do contracts cover social interaction? How are contractual relations or more generally markets constructed? Does the law play a significant role in contractual practices, and in particular what do lawyers, courts, and legal sanctions contribute to the contractual social order? For what distributive purposes does the law attempt regulation? The controversial conclusions of this study suggest that the law plays an insignificant role in the construction of markets, and that law and lawyers could provide better assistance by using indeterminate regulation that permits the recontextualization of legal reasoning. Legal regulation of contracts concerned with redistributive tasks, such as redress of unfairness, countering unjust power relations, and access to justice, is evaluated both with respect to the objectives of regulation and the search for the most efficient and efficacious form of regulation.

This book reassesses the links between contracts, co-operation, and economic competitiveness. It uses new theoretical research and case studies to show how the economic theory of contract is being reshaped by the role of institutions in promoting co-operation and trust. It makes an important and topical contribution to an area of interdisciplinary scholarship by drawing together the work of economists, sociologists, and lawyers.

Boilerplate--the fine-print terms and conditions that we become subject to when we click "I agree" online, rent an apartment, enter an employment contract, sign up for a cellphone carrier, or buy travel tickets--pervades all aspects of our modern lives. On a daily basis, most of us accept boilerplate provisions without realizing that should a dispute arise about a purchased good or service, the nonnegotiable boilerplate terms can deprive us of our right to jury trial and relieve providers of responsibility for harm. Boilerplate is the first comprehensive treatment of the problems posed by the increasing use of these terms, demonstrating how their use has degraded traditional notions of consent, agreement, and contract, and sacrificed core rights whose loss threatens the democratic order. Margaret Jane Radin examines attempts to justify the use of boilerplate provisions by claiming either that recipients freely consent to them or that economic efficiency demands them, and she finds these justifications wanting. She argues, moreover, that our courts, legislatures, and regulatory agencies have fallen short in their evaluation and oversight of the use of boilerplate clauses. To improve legal evaluation of boilerplate, Radin offers a new analytical framework, one that takes into account the nature of the rights affected, the quality of the recipient's consent, and the extent of the use of these terms. Radin goes on to offer possibilities for new methods of boilerplate evaluation and control, among them the bold suggestion that tort law rather than contract law provides a preferable analysis for some boilerplate schemes. She concludes by discussing positive steps that NGOs, legislators, regulators, courts, and scholars could take to bring about better practices.

Economic analysis is being applied by scholars to an increasing range of legal problems. This collection brings together some of the main contributions to an important area of this work, the economics of contract law. The essays and illuminating notes, questions, and introductions provided by the editor outline the Law and Economics framework for analyzing contractual relationships. The first two parts of the book present a number of useful concepts - adverse selection, moral hazard, and rent seeking - and a general way of thinking about the economics of contracting and contract law. The remainder of the book considers a wide range of topics and issues. The recurring theme is that contracting parties want to assign the responsibility for adjusting to particular contingencies to the party best able to control the costs of adjustment. The adjustment problem is exacerbated by the fact that the parties might engage in various types of strategic behavior, such as opportunism, moral hazard, and rent-seeking. Many contract law doctrines can best be understood as attempts to replicate how reasonable parties might resolve this adjustment problem.

Business Negotiations and the Law: The Protection of Weak Professional Parties in Standard Form Contracting aims to explore the issues surrounding contract negotiations between entrepreneurs and other professionals when one of the parties does not have the same level of bargaining power as the other. The need to protect weaker parties from unfair contract terms exists not only in relationships between businesses and consumers, but in business to business contracts also. This book focuses on the problem of small enterprises, independent contractors and other professional weak parties and examines these from a European point of view. There are significant differences between Member States as to decisions regarding regulatory context on the protection of weaker professional parties in asymmetrical contractual situations. However, European businesses are overwhelmingly smaller in size, so protecting weaker parties becomes key in facilitating successful and efficient negotiations. The book provides a critical and comparative overview of the area and recent regulatory developments, both to clarify the direction that European legislation is heading, and to explore the tools needed to assure the effectiveness of the common market. This text will be of interest to policy makers, researchers of European legislation, and students of commercial and business law.

This third edition of the only work to focus on damages under the CISG maintains its purpose as the primary reference source for this topic. Addressing global judicial and arbitral decisions, the book demonstrates the differences between uniform international instruments and domestic laws, and comparatively analyses the calculation of damages under civil and common law systems under the United Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). A new chapter on penalty clauses examines the impact of recent cases in England (Cavendish Square Holding BV V Makdesi) and Australia (Paccioco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd) concerning the interpretation of penalty clauses and their relationship with the CISG. Further new material includes: an expanded discussion of the question of good faith; new approaches relating to attorneys' fees; consideration of states that have recently ratified the CISG; and an examination of the developments in the EU in relation to the attempt to introduce a new harmonised contract law.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the key aspects and contracts involved in the process of developing oil and gas projects, with an emphasis on offshore developments. Project development in oil and gas carries with it numerous unique risks and challenges. By identifying and managing risk through the various contract stages, each stage of the project is seen in perspective and therefore gives readers a better understanding of how that stage was arrived at and what is expected to come later. To do this, the authors use illustrative international case studies from past and current projects, thereby deepening the reader's understanding and awareness of risk from practical experience, as well as suggesting answers for those who are involved in developing oil and gas projects. The Application of Contracts in Developing Offshore Oil and Gas Projects is intended for project owners, project managers, contractors, finance managers, commercial managers and lawyers who seek to understand the subject from a practical point of view.

Comparative Tort Law promotes a 'learning by doing' approach to comparative tort law and comparative methodology. Each chapter starts with a case scenario followed by questions and expertly selected material, such as: legislation, extracts of case law, soft law principles, and (where appropriate) extracts of legal doctrine. Using this material, students are invited to: * solve the proposed scenario according to the laws of several jurisdictions; * compare the approaches and solutions they have identified; * evaluate their respective pros and cons; and * reflect upon the most appropriate approach and solution. This book is essential reading for all students and scholars of comparative tort law and comparative law methodology and is the ideal companion for those wishing to both familiarise themselves with real-world materials and understand the many diverse approaches to modern tort law.

This work discusses the rapidly developing European transport policy on sustainable freight and the connected efforts initiated by the European Commission (EC) on greening transport by the means of contract law. Greening transport has been a central goal for the EU for decades. The main problem has been, and still is, that far too much carriage of goods within the EU is performed unimodally: by road carriage alone. This has caused severe problems particularly in central Europe, where both trade and environment is suffering from an ineffective transport industry with growing problems of congestion and pollution. A modal shift in transport from mainly road based to a form of transport in which more environmental friendly modes such as rail, inland waterways and sea born transport are integrated into one transport chain, is hence an objective of the EU. If successful, this model could then be extended to the international transport community. The key question raised in this book is whether the traditional role of contract law is changing to such an extent that the parties involved must take external interests into account. In the case of the EU's efforts to enhance sustainable carriage of goods within its realm, the author explores whether governmental interference is necessary, or if we can trust that the parties will integrate environmental issues into their contracts because there is a demand for such clauses. The different proposals for an EU regime on multimodal contracts of carriage are discussed in this context. This book will be of great relevance to academics and practitioners with an interest in EU law, transport law, environmental law and maritime law in general.

This comprehensive and popular textbook aims to bridge the gap between theoretical study and practical application. It covers the essentials of construction contracts, including how the law has developed, the reasoning behind key clauses and how contract law is applied in practice, and it helps to make the transition from student to practitioner manageable. This text is intended for all undergraduates studying a construction contract law or a contract administration module or unit. It is ideal for postgraduate degrees in quantity surveying and building surveying, construction project management, and construction management. Civil engineers and students of architecture and architectural technology will find it provides a comprehensive guide to the law in the construction context. It is also very comprehensive in scope and provides sufficient materials to bridge the gap between the student and professional texts.

* Uses a novel clause-by-clause approach to explain the important JCT 2005 contract

* Written by an experienced author, explaining in simple English the meaning and relevance of each clause to avoid common misunderstandings

* Includes up-to-date legal cases that explain the development and interpretation of the contract

The Joint Contracts Tribunal s suite of contracts (commonly known as JCT 2005) are the most commonly used in the UK to procure major building work. Understanding the contracts, and which to use, is vital knowledge for all students on construction-related HND or degree courses, but these clauses can contain convoluted language, leading to confusion. This easy-to-follow guide takes the reader through the JCT 2005 building contracts clause by clause, in an easy-to-follow format, in simple but effective language that eliminates misinterpretation.

Spilt into 3 sections, this book provides a summary of the current JCT Contracts, identifying which to use for what type of work, along with an analysis of their risk, liability, documentation, design responsibility and financial procedures, ensuring that JCT 2005 Building Contract: clause by clause is the vital, definitive reference for the aspiring construction professional.

Phil Griffiths is a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University with interests in contract administration, finance and project management. He graduated from Nottingham Trent Polytechnic in 1971 and worked as a quantity surveyor in local authority and a medium sized construction company. He also spent some time as a director of a small construction company and is a freelance estimator.