Our modern insistence on democratic social values has engendered an intense debate over the intersection of fundamental rights and contract law. In particular, case law in several European national jurisdictions has exerted significant pressure on traditional contract law instruments to conform more transparently with the fundamental rights enshrined in the EC Charter. This pressure is clearly evident in a number of societal areas subject to contract law, among them employment, housing, and privacy. It can even be argued, as this author does, that fundamental rights intermediate between politics and law.Taking its cue from many initiatives toward the development of a more coherent, even harmonised, European contract law, this book is the first major study to examine the following essential questions with detailed reference to actual judicial developments: To what extent do fundamental rights affect contract law? In which types of cases can fundamental rights be applied? What does the explicit consideration of fundamental rights add to contract law adjudication? The author approaches the analysis along two different avenues: first, a comparative overview of developments in case law, and second, a more general theoretical view on the interaction between fundamental rights and rules of contract law which is tested against examples from various legal systems. The focus throughout is on developments in case law, because the impact of fundamental rights in contract law has been felt on the level of dispute resolution rather than on the level of legislation.Germany and the Netherlands are chosen because their judiciaries have been notable for their early and continuing attention to the theme, and England and Italy for perspectives on developments under common law and civil law systems respectively. For its reframing of old questions and its insightful delimitations of new ones, this book offers a fresh and deeply informed new perspective on this important area of developing law. The discussion, moreover, has received an additional impulse from the debate leading up to the recent agreement on a Reform Treaty regarding the institutional settlement of the Union, which will give a legally binding status to the Nice Charter. For these reasons and others, the book will be of great value to all interested parties in government, business, and legal practice.

'Restitution for wrongs', or 'restitutionary damages', is the judicial award which compels the wrongdoer to give up to the victim the benefit obtained through the perpetration of the wrong, independently of any loss suffered by the victim. The establishment of a civil trial in Roman law, which left compensation as the main response, and a widespread, loss-centred interpretation of the Aristotelian theory of corrective justice explain, but do not justify the difficulties encountered by modern attempts to account for restitutionary damages. Mistakes in the classification of this institution have complicated the picture. To overcome some of these problems, this study considers the basic structure of restitutionary damages from different angles. In part one, the topic is analysed from a comparative perspective. Although the focus remains on English law, the German, the Italian and the Roman jurisdictions provide research data which, in part two, support the development of a theory of restitution for wrongs as corrective justice.

In the past few decades, scholars have offered positive, normative, and most recently, interpretive theories of contract law. These theories have proceeded primarily (indeed, necessarily) from deontological and consequentialist premises. In A Theory of Contract Law: Empirical Understandings and Moral Psychology, Professor Peter A. Alces confronts the leading interpretive theories of contract and demonstrates their interpretive doctrinal failures. Professor Alces presents the leading canonical cases that inform the extant theories of Contract law in both their historical and transactional contexts and, argues that moral psychology provides a better explanation for the contract doctrine than do alternative comprehensive interpretive approaches.

This textbook examines the legal and regulatory approaches to digital assets and related technology taken by United States regulators. As cryptoassets and other blockchain applications mature, and regulatory authorities work hard to keep pace, Daniel Stabile, Kimberly Prior and Andrew Hinkes invite students to consider the legal approaches, challenges and tension points inherent in regulating these new products and systems. The authors explore the attempts to apply securities laws and money transmission regulation, the growth of smart contracts, the taxation of digital assets, and the intersection of digital assets and criminal law. This innovative and unique textbook features: Commentary and analysis by three leading attorneys engaged with the regulation of digital assets and blockchain technology, offering practical, real-world acumen A comprehensive overview of the origins, key features and mechanisms of blockchain technology, as well as a broad intimation of the divisive debates that will shape the future of digital assets, to guarantee a thorough introduction to the topic for students Excerpts of authorities and other materials from key regulators, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trade Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service, to add insight and nuance to classroom discussions. In this, the first textbook of its kind, students of law, business, or technology will find crucial insights into the law and regulation of blockchain and a comprehensive overview of significant public debates on the topic.

This book challenges certain differences between contract, tort and equity in relation to the measure (in a broad sense) of damages. Damages are defined as the monetary award made by a court in consequence of a breach of contract, a tort or an equitable wrong. In all these causes of action, damages usually aim to put the claimant into the position the claimant would be in without the wrong. Even though the main objective of damages is thus the same for each cause of action, their measure is not. While some aspects of the measure of damages are more or less harmonised between contract, tort and equity (e.g. causation in fact and mitigation), significant differences exist in relation to (1) remoteness of damage, which is the question of whether, when and to which degree damage needs to be foreseeable to be recoverable; (2) the compensability of non-pecuniary loss such as pain and suffering, distress and loss of reputation; (3) the effect of contributory negligence, which is the victim's contribution to the occurrence of the wrong or the ensuing loss through unreasonable conduct prior to the wrong; (4) the circumstances under which victims of wrongs can claim the gain the wrongdoer has made from the wrong; and (5) the availability and scope of exemplary (or punitive) damages. For each of the five topics, this book examines the present position in contract, tort and equity and establishes the differences between the three areas. It goes on to scrutinise the arguments in defence of existing differences. The conclusion on each topic is that the present differences between contract, tort and equity cannot be justified on merits and should be removed through a harmonisation of the relevant principles.

To provide valuable legal service to persons in today's Europe, practitioners must be conversant in both national and transnational law. At the European level, the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) are an increasingly important element of contract law, together with national contract law, as contained in Civil Codes and various national statute. Accordingly, Kluwer Law International has initiated a series of volumes, under the direction of Prof. Hondius of the University of Utrecht, comparing PECL with the most important European legal systems. This volume on Italian law is the second in the series. Using a straightforward comparative method, the editors' analysis not only reveals a significant area of convergence between the PECL and Italian contract law, but also highlights the main differences between the two bodies of rules. The book provides complete texts, with annotations, of the PECL and the corresponding Italian rules. The presentation proceeds as follows: general provisions (scope of application, general duties, terminology); formation of contracts (general provisions, offer and acceptance, liability for negotiations); authority of agents (general provisions, direct and indirect representation); validity; interpretation; contents and effects; performance; non-performance and remedies in general; and, particular remedies for non-performance (right to performance, withholding performance, termination of the contract, price reduction, damages and interest). The book is a valuable handbook and guide for both foreign and Italian lawyers. For non-Italian lawyers, be they practitioners or academics, it provides a concise but complete and up-to-date outline of current Italian contract law, organized on the basis of a system (PECL) with which many European lawyers are familiar. For Italian lawyers, it offers a clearer insight into a wider European legal contract system whose importance in the evolution of a common European private law is growing rapidly.

The purpose of this book is to honour the influential and wide-ranging work of Professor Hugh Beale. It contains essays by twenty-five very distinguished authors, each of whom has worked with Professor Beale as a co-author, as a teaching colleague, during his time as Law Commissioner of England and Wales, or as part of the study groups working in Europe on contract and commercial law. The essays reflect different aspects of Professor Beale's interests. Some concentrate on English contract law, either from a historical or a current perspective, while others are focused on aspects of European contract law. There are four essays looking at current issues relating to security and financing, and, as befits a former Law Commissioner, three essays on law reform. The essays in the final section discuss trends in transnational and European commercial law. This book brings together the reflections of eminent writers from all over Europe on important issues facing contract and commercial law and will be of interest to all scholars and practitioners working in these areas.

Contract Modifications in EU Procurement Law provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the process of contract modification under European Union (EU) procurement law. The book examines the origin of the regulations pertaining to modifications, the legal grounds for modification and limitations under current rules. In addition, the book outlines the legal effects of carrying out a modification breach under EU law. Key features include: analysis of the criteria which must be met under the EU Public Procurement Directive (2014/24/EU) to ensure a modification is compliant with EU law fresh examination of the EU Court of Justice's decisions in cases relating to contract modifications and Directive 2014/24/EU more widely consideration of contract modifications both from practical and theoretical perspectives. This authoritative book will be a valuable resource for professionals in both the public and private sectors when establishing whether a given modification can be made in practice. It will also serve as an excellent source of knowledge about the modification of a contract in the EU for academics in the areas of commercial and EU law.

Two major developments in European Private and European Business Law come together when we speak about "Constitutional Values and European Contract Law." European Contract Law has become extremely dynamic over the last 10 years, both in substance and perspective: all core areas are considered now in legal science and in EC legislation, and there are even the prospects of some kind of codification.
On the other hand, constitutional values and their impact on private law have been an issue of high concern in major Member States over decades, namely Italy and Germany, but as well the Netherlands - hence the strong presence of scholars and practising lawyers from these countries in this book. Constitutional values have, however, found their way to the EC level and the national discussions have inspired a European one, with three core values discussed:
- Fundamental Freedoms,
- Fundamental rights and
- Constitutional system building principles- such as the social welfare state or the rule of law.
Their impact on private law can be sensed nowadays quite considerably also on the European level. These fundamental values are often seen as the ingredient, which renders European Private Law, namely European Contract Law, more responsive to social values or more "humane."
For all these reasons, the book combines comparative law, EC Law and interdisciplinary approaches to the question "Constitutional Values and European Contract Law." Outstanding scholars from six Member States and beyond - quite a few also practising lawyers - discuss the issue and do so for the first time on such a broad and all encompassing basis.

This book advocates a new way of thinking about mortgage contracts. This claim is based on the assumption that we currently live in a political economy in which consumer debt fulfils a social function. In the field of housing this is evidenced by the expansion of mortgage credit through which consumers are to purchase residential property as a means of social inclusion and personal welfare. It is suggested that contract law needs to adjust to this new social function in order to avoid welfare losses in terms of default, over-indebtedness, and possibly eviction. To this end, this book analyses theoretical contract law frameworks and makes concrete proposals for contract law in the EU legal order.

This book deals with major contributions by the English Courts in the Twentieth Century to three areas of Contract Law: the variation of contracts by subsequent agreement, the extent to which contracts can benefit or bind third parties, and the distinction between four types of contractual terms: conditions, warranties, intermediate (or innominate) terms and fundamental terms.

Recent leading cases have demonstrated the urgent need to modernize the learning on breach of trust,which has lagged behind the flourishing scholarship on the creation of trusts. Since breach of trust or fiduciary duty occupies the centre of the legal stage, it comes as a surprise that, although one or two novelists have chosen 'Breach of Trust' as the title to their book, no lawyer has so far thought it necessary to produce a specialized work on the subject. To fill the gap, this book, written by a team of leading trust lawyers from a number of common law jurisdictions, investigates all the principal aspects of the subject. The nature of the trustee's duties and of the liability for breach is closely examined, and all available defences and excuses are reviewed. Two substantial chapters consider the consequences of assisting a breach or receiving trust property from a trustee acting in breach. The book closes with a critical overview of the entire topic. CONTENTS: 1 Robert Chambers 'Liability for Breach'; 2 Joshua Getzler 'The Duty of Care'; 3 Edwin Simpson 'The Conflict of Interest'; 4 David Fox 'Overreaching'; 5 Lionel Smith 'Property Transferred in Breach'; 6 Charles Mitchell 'Assistance'; 7 Peter Birks 'Receipt'; 8 James Penner 'Exemption clauses'; 9 John Lowry and Rod Edmunds 'Honest and Reasonable Breach'; 10 Jennifer Payne 'Consent'; 11 William Swadling 'Limitation'; 12 Gary Watt 'Laches, Estoppel and Election'; 13 David Hayton 'An Overview'.

The Research Handbook on EU Consumer and Contract Law takes stock of the evolution of this fascinating area of private law to date and identifies key themes for the future development of the law and research agendas. This major Handbook brings together contributions by leading academics from across the EU on the latest developments and controversies in these important areas of law. The Handbook is divided into three distinct and thematic parts: firstly, authors examine a range of cross-cutting issues relevant to both consumer and contract law. The second part discusses specific topics on EU consumer law, including the consumer image within EU law, information duties and unfair contract terms. The final part focuses on a number of important subjects which remain current in the development of EU contract law and presents a number of innovative solutions to the challenges presented in parts one and two. This timely and insightful Handbook will provide both a comprehensive survey of this area of law for the novice researcher and fresh food-for-thought for scholars who have been researching this area of law for many years. Contributors include: E.A. Amayuelas, H. Beale, J.M. Bech Serrat, C. Busch, R. Canavan, P. Cartwright, O.O. Cherednychenko, G. Comparato, G. Cordero-Moss, A. Cygan, L. Gillies, M. Graziadei, M.W. Hesselink, G. Howells, C. Mak, V. Mak, H.-W. Micklitz, B. Pozzo, P. Rott, J. Rutgers, J.M. Smits, Y. Svetiev, E.T.T. Tai, C. Twigg-Flesner, W.H. van Boom, J. Watson, F. Zoll

As usage of the NEC (formerly the New Engineering Contract) family of contracts continues to grow worldwide, so does the importance of understanding its clauses and nuances to everyone working in the built environment. This set of contracts, currently in the third edition, is different to others in concept as well as format, so users may well find themselves needing a helping hand along the way. Understanding the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Short Contract uses plain English to lead the reader through the contract's key features, including: the use of early warnings programme provisions payment compensation events preparing and assessing tenders Common problems are signalled to the reader throughout, and the correct way of reading each clause explained. In addition, the things to consider when deciding between the ECSC and the longer Engineering and Construction Contract are discussed in detail. Written for professionals without legal backgrounds, by a practicing construction contract consultant, this handbook is the most straightforward, balanced and practical guide to the NEC3 ECSC available. An ideal companion for Employers, Contractors, Project Managers, Supervisors, Engineers, Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Subcontractors, and anyone else interested in working successfully with the NEC3 ECSC.

Sometimes a breach of contract causes loss to a third party. This book takes a comparative approach to the question when the third party can recover that loss directly,and when the promisee can recover it. The second issue has arisen in carriage of goods, bailment, insurance and agency, and is becoming increasingly significant in construction law, as the recent decision in Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd v. Panatown Ltd shows. The principal aim is to clarify whether and when a promisee is allowed to recover damages on behalf of a third party. The book also examines the impact of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 and recent judicial decisions seeking to increase the protection of the interest in the performance of the contract. From the Foreword by Lord Goff of Chieveley: "For those lawyers who, in their teaching of contract law or of the law of damages, or in their work as practising lawyers, have to consider problems arising in this difficult field, this book will provide a context which is both stimulating and illuminating."

The Employment Contract: Legal Principles, Drafting, and Interpretation provides a detailed analysis of the content of the employment contract. It explains the way in which the general principles of contract law operate in respect of the employment contract, discusses the significance of implied terms in interpreting the employment contract, and includes guidance on the drafting of effective employment contracts. Offering a balance between a reliable guide to the current law and an analysis of how the employment contract might develop, the book will be of equal interest to the practitioner and the academic.

Landmark Cases in the Law of Contract offers twelve original essays by leading contract scholars. As with the essays in the companion volume, Landmark Cases in the Law of Restitution (Hart, 2006) each essay takes as its focus a particular leading case, and analyses that case in its historical or theoretical context. The cases range from the early eighteenth - to the late twentieth - centuries, and deal with an array of contractual doctrines. Some of the essays call for their case to be stripped of its landmark status, whilst others argue that it has more to offer than we have previously appreciated. The particular historical context of these landmark cases, as revealed by the authors, often shows that our current assumptions about the case and what it stands for are either mistaken, or require radical modification. The book also explores several common themes which are fundamental to the development of the law of contract: for instance, the influence of commercial expectations, appeals to 'reason' and the significance of particular judicial ideologies and techniques.This book contains a collection of new and original articles on the famous contract cases. It includes contributions from well-established scholars analysing both current and historical aspects of contract law. The analysis of the cases will be of interest to barristers, academics and judges.

This comprehensive book offers a thoughtful survey of theories, issues and cases in order to reassess the present vision of contract law. Comparative refers both to the specific kind of methodologies implied and to the polyphonic perspectives collected on the main topics, with the aim of superseding the conventional forms of representation. In this perspective, the work engages a critical search for the fault lines, which crosses traditions of thought and globalized landscapes. Notwithstanding contract's enduring presence and the technicalities devoted to managing clauses and interpretation, the inquiry on the proper nature of contract and its status and collocation within private legal taxonomies continues to be a controversial exercise. Moving from a vast array of dissimilar inclinations, which have historically produced heterogeneous maps of law, this book is built around the genealogies of contractual theoretical thinking; the contentious relationship between private governance and normative regulations; the competing styles used to stage contract law; the concurring opinions expressed within the domain of other disciplines, such as literature and political theory; the tensions between global context and local frames; and the movable thresholds between canonical expressions and heterodox constructions. For its careful analysis and the wide range of references employed, Comparative Contract Law will be a tremendous resource for academics, legal scholars and interdisciplinary experts as well as judges and law practitioners. Contributors include: G. Bellantuono, B.H. Bix, D. Carpi, C.L. Cordasco, C. Costantini, S. Fiorato, J. Gordley, M. Granieri, A. Hutchison, M.R. Marella, G. Marini, P.G. Monateri, F. Monceri, P. Moreno Cruz, H. Muir Watt, F. Parisi, P. Pardolesi, G. Samuel

Combining natural law theory, reliance theory, and economic analysis to develop a jurisprudential approach, this is a prescriptive work presenting a vision of what contract law would be like if it were devoted to teaching moral virtue. The jurisprudential approach draws upon insights of Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and other thinkers in the natural law tradition. The author applies this approach to selected legal issues to produce the only contemporary book that uses a natural law approach in prescribing specific reforms in American contract law. Although this study is theoretical, the author, who practiced law for more than eight years, explains technical terms for non-specialist readers. The book employs a pluralistic moral theory and presents a serious challenge to contemporary jurisprudential theories that focus on some single dominant value. A key idea is that contract law should teach and employ certain moral principles when applied to legal issues related to enforceability, remedies, offer and acceptance, and nondisclosure. With respect to each issue, the author compares his proposed resolution with the prevailing current law.

Unclear contracts are common, and a large number of litigated cases in the U.S. require clarification of the parties' agreement. The process of clarifying an unclear contract involves three legal tasks. A judge must first identify the terms to be interpreted, then must determine whether the terms are ambiguous and encompass the rival interpretations advanced by the parties. Finally, if the terms are ambiguous, a finder of fact must resolve the ambiguity by choosing between the rival interpretations. Performing these tasks often involves the question of what evidence may be considered. Further, the courts may decide contract interpretation issues based on the agreement's literal terms, or the parties' objective or subjective intentions.
Steven J. Burton's undertaking in Elements of Contract Interpretation is a comprehensive treatment of these issues. By identifying the concrete and legally provable elements that contract interpreters may use, he has written an invaluable resource for both practitioners and scholars alike. This book also proposes an optimal law of contract interpretation for the courts' consideration.

The book provides a comparative analysis of the law relating to remedies for breach of contract. It examines different remedies such as specific performance and damages,doing so from the viewpoint of different legal systems, principally the English, American, German, French and Israeli. Each essay is written by a recognised specialist in his or her own field. Topics covered include the relationship between substantive rights and contract remedies, the recent reforms of the law relating to breach of contract in Germany, the remedies in the context of a third party beneficiary and the extent to which a claimant can choose the remedy which he or she deems to be the most appropriate. The book also makes use of a range of techniques, particularly economic analysis, when examining the legal rules. The book contains an introductory essay written by the editors and an essay by Professor Friedman, which deals with the relationship between substantive rights and contract remedies.

One party induces an assumption in the mind of another. Australian law has arguably given expression to three moral duties relating to induced assumptions: the duty to keep promises, the duty not to lie and the duty to ensure the reliability of induced assumptions. This book expounds the third of these duties and shows how it can be used to shape "equitable" estoppel, a doctrine emerging from the decisions of the High Court of Australia in Waltons Stores and Verwayen. It does not purport to cover the entire law of estoppel, but does examine, analytically, how the doctrine might operate in a series of problematic cases at the edge of contract law.

Over the last 30 years, the evolution of acquis communautaire in consumer law and harmonising soft law proposals have utterly transformed the landscape of European contract law. The initial enthusiasm and approval for the EU programme has waned and, post Brexit, it currently faces increasing criticism over its effectiveness. In this collection, leading academics assess the project and ask if such judgements are fair, and suggest how harmonisation in the field might be better achieved. This book looks at the uniform rules in the context of: the internal market; national legislators and courts; bridging the gap between common and civil law; and finally their influence on non-member states. Critical and rigorous, it provides a timely and unflinching critique of one of the most important fields of harmonisation in the European Union.