During its classical period, American contract law had three prominent characteristics: nearly unlimited freedom to choose the contents of a contract, a clear separation from the law of tort (the law of civil wrongs), and the power to make contracts without regard to the other party's ability to understand them. Combining incisive historical analysis with a keen sense of judicial politics, W. David Slawson shows how judges brought the classical period to an end about 1960 with a period of reform that continues to this day. American contract law no longer possesses any of the prominent characteristics of its classical period. For instance, courts now refuse to enforce standard contracts according to their terms; they implement the consumer's reasonable expectations instead. Businesses can no longer count on making the contracts they want: laws for certain industries or for businesses generally set many business obligations regardless of what the contracts say. A person who knowingly breaches a contract and then tries to avoid liability is subject to heavy penalties. As Slawson demonstrates, judges accomplished all these reforms, although with some help from scholars. Legislation contributed very little despite its presence in massive amounts and despite the efforts of modern institutions of law reform such as the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Slawson argues persuasively that this comparison demonstrates the superiority of judge-made law to legislation for reforming private law of any kind.

Promises and agreements are everywhere; we make, receive, keep, and break them on a daily basis. The quest to understand these social practices is integral to understanding ourselves as social creatures. The study of promises and agreements is enjoying a renaissance in many areas of social philosophy, including philosophy of language, action theory, normative ethics, value theory, and legal philosophy. This volume is the first collection of philosophical papers on promises and agreements, bringing together sixteen original self-standing contributions to the philosophical literature. The contributors highlight some of the more interesting aspects of the ubiquitous social phenomena of promises and agreements from different philosophical perspectives.

Textbooks on international law, dicta of the International Court of Justice and the International Law Commission's 'Guiding Principles applicable to unilateral declarations of states capable of creating legal obligations' of 2006, all reflect the fact that in international law a state's unilateral declaration can create a legally binding obligation. Unilateral declarations are common, as a look at the weekly headlines of any major newspaper will reveal. Many of the declarations made at the highest level are, of course, vaguely expressed and carry no tangible legal commitment. But others deliver a very clear message: for instance the US's April 2010 declaration on its future use of nuclear weapons or Kosovo's declaration of independence and pledge to follow the Ahtisaari Plan, are two recent and prominent examples of unilateral declarations at the international level. The same sources, however, also reveal that while state promises are accepted as a means for states to create full blown legal commitments, the law governing such declarations is far from clear. This monograph fills a gap in international legal scholarship by raising and answering the question of the precise legal value of such pledges in the realm of public international law. After a brief introduction state promises in international law are defined and contrasted with other unilateral acts of states, and the history of promises in state practice and court decisions is delineated, together with scholarly opinion. The book then provides a detailed picture of the international legal framework governing promises of states, and ends with a brief assessment of the raison d'être for promises as a binding mechanism in international law, along with their advantages and disadvantages in comparison with the classical mechanism for assuming international obligations - the international treaty. This is currently the only book to present a comprehensive overview of the legal effect of promises by states in international law.

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.

Promises and Contract Law is the first modern work to explore the significance of promise to contract law from a comparative legal perspective. Part I explores the component elements of promise, its role in Greek thought and Roman law, the importance of the moral duty to keep promises and the development of promissory ideas in medieval legal scholarship. Part II considers the modern contract law of a number of legal systems from a promissory perspective. The focus is on the law of England, Germany and three mixed legal systems (Scotland, South Africa and Louisiana), though other legal systems are also mentioned. Major topics subjected to a promissory analysis include formation of contract, third party rights, contractual remedies and the renunciation of contractual rights. Part III analyses the future role which promise might play in contract law, especially within a harmonised European contract law.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Renowned scholar of comparative private law Alexandra Braun examines the law of testamentary promises, details what happens when these promises are broken, and compares how and when the interests of beneficiaries of testamentary promises are protected across a number of legal systems.

Electoral promises help to win votes and political candidates, or parties should strategically choose what they can deliver to win an election. Past game-theoretical studies tend to ignore electoral promises and this book sheds illuminating light on the functions and effects of electoral promises on policies or electoral outcomes through game theory models. This book provides a basic framework for game-theoretical analysis of electoral promises. ​ The book also includes cases to illustrate real life applications of these theories. ​