The Constitutional Dimension Of Contract Law

One of the hallmarks of the present era is the discourse surrounding Human Rights and the need for the law to recognise them. Various national and supranational human rights instruments have been developed and implemented in order to transition society away from atrocity and callousness toward a more just and inclusive future. In some countries this is done by means of an overarching constitution, while in others international conventions or ordinary legislation hold sway. Contract law plays a pivotal role in this context. According to many, this is done through the much-debated ‘civilising mission’ of the contract, a notion which itself constitutes the canon of the Western liberal principle of ‘civilised economy’. The movement away from the belief in the absolute freedom of contract, which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century, to the principles of fairness and justice that underpin contract law today, is often deemed to be a testament to this civilising influence. Delving into the interplay between human rights policies, constitutional law, and contract law from both theoretical and practical perspectives, this first volume of a two-book collection offers a totally new reappraisal of the subject by gathering a collection of essays written by contract law scholars from Europe, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Instead of providing the reader with a sterile compilation of positivistic norms and policies on the impact of fundamental rights and constitutional law issues on contract law’s development, the authors build on their personal experience to analyse specific topics related to contracting that include a constitutional dimension. The book fills an important void in comparative law scholarship and in so doing represents the starting point for further debate on the subject.

This second volume on the constitutional dimension of contract law explores this increasingly relevant subject in jurisdictions that are usually overlooked by mainstream scholarship in the English-speaking world. With chapters on Finland and other Nordic Countries from a comparative perspective, Spain, Japan, Somalia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Peru, the contributions presented here offer much-needed, context-informed insights on whether – and if so, why, how and to what extent – the development of contract law is being influenced by constitutional values and fundamental rights issues (or vice-versa). The book represents a valuable addition to comparative law literature on the interplay between public (i.e., constitutional) and private (i.e., contract) law by revealing the inner dynamics through which these two branches interact and (at times) inform each other, whilst also enhancing our understanding of the law’s nature, function, and transformative potential at the macro, meso, and micro levels.

Contract General Principles examines the concepts, principles and rules relating to contracts, and considers the jurisprudentJal, constitutional and social context in which contract law operates. The authors' expert analysis and exposition of the legislative and common-law principles underlying the law of contract provides a rich, illuminating reading experience for legal practitioners, law students and members of the general public with an interest in the subject. The authors explore the theoretical basis and structure of the South African law of contract and discuss the role played by the courts - including discussions of the latest court decisions - in the interpretation and application of these rules and principles. Where the law is not settled divergent opinions are considered and solutions offered, sometimes also with reference to foreign jurisdictions. This fifth edition of Contract General Principles highlights the importance ot the Consumer Protection Act in relation to the construction and conclusion of contracts, while close attention is also paid to the influence of constitutional jurisprudence and the principle of good faith in the formation of binding legal agreements. While the basic approach of the work has been retained, it has been substantially refined and reworked in many chapters.

The relationship of law to economic freedom has been a vital element in the history of all modern democratic societies. "Freedom of contract" is both a technical term in law, referring to private agreements and promises, and a metaphor often deployed to describe economic liberty. This volume of new essays by eminent legal historians offers fresh perspectives on freedom of contract in both senses of the term, and considers how economic freedom relates to such classic political freedoms as free speech and other Anglo-American constitutional norms. The principal focus of the essays is on broad issues of policy and law, rather than on narrow considerations of legal doctrine. All the contributors reject stereotypes that pervade the existing literature about the allegedly unalloyed individualism of the common law, and show how active state interventions of various kinds have shaped contract law in relation to social change throughout our legal history. Equally, however, they reject shibboleths regarding "bringing the state back in," and take a hard look at the claims of statist ideology regarding the norms and rules that have established the legal boundaries of liberty in the modern industrial and post-industrial eras. The topics covered are Blackstone's claim that property was the "despotic dominion of the private owner" (A. W. B. Simpson), labor and contract (John V. Orth), the influence of philosophical trends on legal innovations (James Gordley), contract and individualism (David Lieberman), the tradition of public rights (Harry N. Scheiber), the formal concept of "liberty of contract" in American law (Charles McCurdy), the interwoven history of labor law and contract law (Arthur McEvoy), public policy in relation to natural resources (Donald Pisani), and globalization of freedom of contract (Martin Shapiro).

This book discusses in what sense constitutional law has a political dimension, raising the question whether constitutional law is fundamentally political as to its validity, terms of its origin, conceptual structure and/or corresponding practice. It also poses the question whether that dimension is a political-theological dimension. A positive answer to these questions challenges the prevailing view that constitutional law is to be conceived strictly as law, moreover as written law, approved at a certain point in history by a particular power and interpreted as any other law by the judiciary. The essays included in this book, written by leading scholars in constitutional theory – including Martin Loughlin, Paul Kahn, Manon Altwegg-Boussac and Massimo La Torre – address these questions in a timely and original way.

The chapters collected in this book explore the place and role of judge-made private law in an emerging European polity. Examining case-law from the perspective of different theories and viewpoints, scholars and judges assess and reflect on the role of judges in civil cases for polity-building in Europe. The chapters thus present a kaleidoscopic view on the dynamics of private law adjudication against a European backdrop. The book aims to add a private legal perspective to existing discourses in European constitutional law on Europe's political constellation. It aspires to enrich two debates – the first on the influence of fundamental rights in private legal relations, and the second on the constitutional dimension of European private law. The contributions are placed within a framework of five sub-categories or dimensions of judge-made European private law: politics of European private law adjudication, rights, remedies, representation and reflections of judges on specific cases.

Excerpt from Selected Cases on the Law of Contracts In the present, third, edition of this collection of cases, the work has been entirely revised, and amplified by additional cases and many new annotations. The purpose of the book is to furnish a compact and, at the same time, comprehensive selection of authoritative material for the study and discussion of the principles of the law of contract. The work is now designed primarily to be used alone as the basis of instruction, although it may also be used conveniently with lectures or a standard treatise. The arrangement of topics follows that of Sir William Anson in his Principles of the English Law of Contracts, whose general plan has served as a model for some other treatises on the subject. This case book, however, covers some topics not dealt with in his book; and some that are treated there are not included here. Two chapters appearing in the former editions of this book, namely, Capacity of Parties, and Impairing the Obligation of Contract, are omitted in this edition, as these are topics which are commonly discussed in the courses on Persons and Constitutional Law in the usual law school curriculum. In many of the cases the statement of facts has, for the sake of brevity, been either re-written or abridged, without calling special attention to the matter. For the same reason, the practice, now common, of omitting unnecessary portions of the opinions, has been followed; but such omissions are always indicated. In this as in the preceding editions, the principal text consists of American cases, although English cases are represented in the notes and in the discussions in the opinions. A new feature and one that, it is hoped, may prove of value, is the reference note appended to substantially every case. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Based on the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Leuven, 2010.