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Should The Law Ignore Commercial Norms? A Comment On The Bernstein Conjuncture And Its Relevance For Contract Law Theory And Reform, Jason Scott Johnston Jun 2001

Should The Law Ignore Commercial Norms? A Comment On The Bernstein Conjuncture And Its Relevance For Contract Law Theory And Reform, Jason Scott Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Professor Bernstein's study of the interaction between private law and norms in the cotton industry is the latest installment in her ongoing investigation into the relationship between law and norms in trades ranging from the diamond market to grain and feed markets. Her incredibly detailed and thorough exploration of private lawmaking and commercial norms - and their interaction - stands as one of the most significant contributions to contract and commercial law scholarship made in the last half-century. The cotton industry study upon which I focus in this Comment not only reports fascinating findings about dispute resolution practices, but also …


Private Commercial Law In The Cotton Industry: Creating Cooperation Through Rules, Norms, And Institutions, Lisa Bernstein Jun 2001

Private Commercial Law In The Cotton Industry: Creating Cooperation Through Rules, Norms, And Institutions, Lisa Bernstein

Michigan Law Review

The cotton industry has almost entirely opted out of the public legal system, replacing it with one of the oldest and most complex systems of private commercial law. Most contracts for the purchase andsale of domestic cotton, between merchants or between merchants andmills, are neither consummated under the Uniform Commercial Code("Code") nor interpreted and enforced in court when disputes arise. Rather, most such contracts are concluded under one of several privately drafted sets of contract default rules and are subject to arbitration in one of several merchant tribunals. Similarly, most international sales of cotton are governed neither by state-supplied legal …


Dear Sir Or Madam: You Cannot Contract In A Closet, David J. Depippo Jan 2001

Dear Sir Or Madam: You Cannot Contract In A Closet, David J. Depippo

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment will examine this seemingly basic question through the lens of two recent Gateway cases. In Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., the Seventh Circuit held that the Standard Terms were part of the sales agreement, and thus, the consumer was bound by them. The United States District Court for the District of Kansas, in Klocek v. Gateway, Inc., however, held that the contract for sale had been made when the seller identified the computer for shipping, or at the very least, shipped the computer, and thus, the Standard Terms were merely proposals of additional terms to which the consumer …