Complete Contract Law

Complete Contract Law offers students a carefully blended combination of the concepts and cases of contract law, accompanied by insightful commentary - a combination designed to encourage critical thinking, stimulate analysis, and promote a complete understanding.

Legal thinkers typically justify contract law on the basis of economics or promissory morality. But Peter Benson takes another approach. He argues that contract is best explained as a transfer of rights governed by a conception of justice. The result is a comprehensive theory of contract law congruent with Rawlsian liberalism.

An oft-repeated assertion within contract law scholarship and cases is that a good contract law (or a good commercial contract law) will meet the needs and expectations of commercial contractors. Despite the prevalence of this statement, relatively little attention has been paid to why this should be the aim of contract law, how these 'commercial expectations' are identified and given substance, and what precise legal techniques might be adopted by courts to support the practices and expectations of business people. This book explores these neglected issues within contract law. It examines the idea of commercial expectation, identifying what expectations commercial contractors may have about the law and their business relationships (using empirical studies of contracting behaviour), and assesses the extent to which current contract law reflects these expectations. It considers whether supporting commercial expectations is a justifiable aim of the law according to three well-established theoretical approaches to contractual obligations: rights-based explanations, efficiency-based (or economic) explanations and the relational contract critique of the classical law. It explores the specific challenges presented to contract law by modern commercial relationships and the ways in which the general rules of contract law could be designed and applied in order to meet these challenges. Ultimately the book seeks to move contract law beyond a simple dichotomy between contextualist and formalist legal reasoning, to a more nuanced and responsive legal approach to the regulation of commercial agreements.

This complete guide to all aspects of contract law gives a thorough explanation of the law, sharply focused commentary and an in-depth analysis of the case law.

Written by an author team with over 60 years of teaching experience, the new edition of The Modern Law of Contract is the complete textbook for students of contract law, providing not only clear and authoritative commentary but also a selection of learning features to enable students to engage actively with the law. This, the 14th edition, has been fully updated to address recent developments in contract law, including the implications of COVID-19 and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. It offers a carefully tailored overview of all key topics for LLB and GDL courses, and includes a number of learning features designed to enhance comprehension and aid exam preparation, including: boxed chapter summaries that offer a useful checklist for students, and illustrative diagrams to clarify difficult concepts; ‘Key cases’ that highlight and contextualise the most significant cases; ‘For thought’ features that ask ‘what if’ scenarios; ‘In focus’ features that provide critical commentary on the law. Also including further reading at the end of each chapter, and a companion website with additional resources, The Modern Law of Contract enables undergraduate and postgraduate students not only to fully understand the essential details of contract law but also to develop a profound and critical understanding of this fundamental area.

'JC Smith's The Law of Contract' provides a superb overview of all the key areas of contract law making this book ideal for use on all undergraduate courses. A focus on key cases acts a springboard into analysis and critical discussion enabling students to really understand the fundamentals of the subject.

Providing a comprehensive, practice-oriented approach to the legal and practical aspects of contract law, Contract Law In Focus offers realworld scenarios throughout give students numerous opportunities to apply and solidify their understanding of important concepts. Clear explanatory text, Case Previews, and Case Follow-ups further clarify the doctrine and aid in student understanding. This text begins with a helpful introduction to the study of contract law, providing basic information about the way contracts are governed in the United States. It then introduces formation of contracts, covering offer, acceptance, consideration, and exceptions to consideration. The casebook moves on to provide clear and comprehensive discussions of defenses, excuses, and remedies for breach. By effectively synthesizing the statutory law, common law, relevant rules, and secondary sources, while offering a focus on understanding contract law -- as it developed in the past, exists today, and will evolve in the future -- the authors have created an indispensable guide for students learning contract law.