Law Commons^™

Contracts Scholarship Beyond Materialisierung, Daniela Caruso

Faculty Scholarship

This comment aims to show how Klaus Eller's paper on ‘The Political Economy of Tenancy Contract Law’¹ raises the stakes of private law scholarship and contributes to the larger project of remodeling legal institutions in a progressive direction. The comment starts by contextualising the rapid spread of the Law and Political Economy (LPE) movement; illustrates through examples the generative impact of LPE on contemporary contracts scholarship; and highlights two strands of Eller’s original contribution to such literature: a welcome reflection on the value and limits of Materialisierung, and a radical widening of the private law inquiry to include …

Contract Law And Distribution In The Age Of Welfare Reform, Daniela Caruso

Faculty Scholarship

This Article tracks the ongoing adaptation of U.S. contract law to the 1990s’ contraction of the welfare state. Some courts strive to compensate for the shortage of welfare services and to pursue redistributive goals. This Article provides examples of this trend and then analyzes the non-linear relation between doctrines, judicial redistribution, and welfare politics in both case law and scholarship. Finally, this Article discusses the role of socially sensitive judicial discourse in light of contemporary welfare politics and explains its continuing importance.

The Economics Of Litigation And Arbitration: An Application To Franchise Contracts, Keith N. Hylton, Christopher R. Drahozal

Faculty Scholarship

If we define the deterrence benefits from contract enforcement as avoided harms net of avoidance costs, we should expect contracting parties to choose the dispute resolution forum that provides the greatest difference between deterrence benefits and dispute resolution costs for every type of dispute. We apply this general framework to franchise contracts and conduct an empirical analysis of the determinants of arbitration agreements among franchising parties. Although it is obvious that contracting parties have an incentive to choose arbitration in order to reduce dispute-resolution costs, there have been no studies of the importance of deterrence concerns. We examine the deterrence …

A Theory Of Minimum Contract Terms, With Implications For Labor Law, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This Paper deals with a topic at the core of labor, property, and contract law: to what extent should individuals be free to enter into agreements of their choice? In many instances, the state intervenes to tell parties that they may not execute or enforce certain agreements, or that they must incorporate certain "minimum terms." A broad view of property rights would support the position that individuals are free to enter into whatever agreements suit them. A narrow view, on the other hand, is consistent with the claim that the state may require contracting parties to comply with a set …

Enforcing Coasian Bribes For Non-Price Benefits: A New Role For Restitution, Wendy J. Gordon, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

In Boomer v. Muir,¹ a subcontractor on a hydroelectric project continued to provide goods and services even though the value of the performance far exceeded the contract price. The general contractor, who was receiving these goods and services, breached the contract even though he was paying less than market price for them.²

In many states, a supplier in the subcontractor's position has among her options the choice of "rescission and restitution."³ That means the supplier may rescind the contract and seek, under the label of "restitution", payment set at market price (or at her cost)⁴ for …

The Legal Infrastructure Of Markets: The Role Of Contract And Property Law Essay, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

Markets are social institutions that facilitate exchange transactions. Therefore, they require a regime of freedom to exchange-a contract regime. Markets can be made more efficient by reducing the transaction and information costs for market actors. Such a reduction can be effected by standardizing the products exchanged, the terms of the transactions, and the nature of the rights transferred. Information costs can be reduced by publicizing the transactions' and by using the services of intermediaries

Contract Law As A System Of Values Book Review, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Contract law has changed dramatically since the heyday of free contract ideology. The false conflict in the cases and literature between facilitation of market transactions and regulation to achieve social aims has been transcended, largely due to the realization that social aims are behind all of contract law. In place of this false conflict, new questions about the values advanced through contract law have been posed. Contract theory needs an account of the values underlying doctrines that were previously justified (wrongly) as means to effectuate the intent of the parties. Hugh Collins has given us such an account in his …