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Fiction Vs. Reality, In Re Contracts: A Survey, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The history and philosophy of the law of contracts has more than academic interest. In some areas there are conflicts and uncertainties that stem from the history, nature and basis of contracts.

Primitive men were familiar with the idea of possession which later developed into the idea of ownership. And a person having possession or ownership has long been able to transfer whatever he had to another.'

But the idea of obligation was a later development in the advance of civilization. Obligations, as we know them at present, would have been incredible to primitive men. Do we fully realize even …