Law Commons^™

Article 5: Highlights Of The Proposed Revision, James J. White

Other Publications

I. The Current Status of Article 5: Drafting, Approval and Promulgation--The Most Significant Changes or Clarifications -- II. The Most Contentious Issues in the Revision of Article 5 -- III. More Subtle Questions About Revised Article 5

The Warranty Of Quality In Sale Of Goods Under The Perspective Of The American And French Law, Renaud Baguenault De Puchesse

LLM Theses and Essays

While the United States’ common law system is characterized by diversity due to each state having its own set of rules, in certain areas there are nationwide legislative attempts of unification and standardization. One such attempt is the adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code which governs the sale of goods law in the United States. The French civil law system generally differs greatly from the American system in that it is primarily based upon statutes and codes. However, the American Uniform Commercial Code and the French Civil Code provide tangible, comparable bases to assess similarities and differences between American and …

Efficient Remedies For Breach Of Warranty, Kenneth Chapman, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

This article attempts to suggest valuable refinements and extensions of the economic theory of warranty by explicitly considering the choice of remedies for breach of warranty in conjunction with the choice of warranty protection itself. In particular, it offers explanations for the prevalence of replacement terms rather than refund terms in warranties. Economists studying the general issue of breach of contract have noted that the choice of remedy has important implications for risk sharing, renegotiation, transaction-specific investment, and the incentive to breach.5 This article derives much of its insight from the recognition that work on the economics of contract breach …

Contracts: Rodgers V. Tecumseh Bank: Re-Evaluating The Christian Principle Of Tort Liability For Breach Of Good Faith, Carolyn S. Smith

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remedies For Breach Of Contract Under The Uniform Commercial Code, The General Conditions Of Delivery Of Goods Of The Council For Mutual Economic Assistance And The United Nations Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods, Hasan T. Choudhury

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis attempts to examine and compare an important component of any law of contract for the sale of goods, namely, the remedies available to an aggrieved party following a breach of contract. The first part of the thesis deals with the historical background of the uniform laws, their scope and specific characteristics. The following chapters examine the status, role and significance of the two major remedies - the damages and specific performance, in the major legal systems and the uniform laws. In addition, it compares the remaining remedial provisions and concludes that, although the major legal systems of the …

Ucc Section 2-714(1) And The Lost-Volume Theory: A New Remedy For Middlemen?, John Hackley

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Article 29(2) Of The United Nations Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods: A New Effort At Clarifying The Legal Effect Of "No Oral Modification" Clauses, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Decline Of The Contract Market Damage Model, James J. White

Articles

In law school every American lawyer learns that the conventional measure of damages for breach of a sales contract is the difference between the contract price and the market price. Even before these rules were embodied in the Uniform Sales Act and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), they were a staple of Anglo-American common law. They remain the rules with which a court would determine damage liability not only for the sale of goods, but also for the sale of real estate and securities.

Promise Fulfilled And Principle Betrayed, James J. White

Articles

My responsibility in this paper is to address three questions. (1) How has the legal realist body of thought affected contract law and its application? (2) How will contract law and its application be affected in the future by realist thinking? (3) If the realist viewpoint were fully accepted, what kind of system would result and how would contract law be affected? Because my focus is upon a principal legislative monument to realism, Article Two of the Uniform Commercial Code (the "U.C.C."), and upon its drafter, Karl Llewellyn, I will not answer any of the three questions explicitly. By focusing …

Article Two Warranties In Commercial Transactions: An Update, Kathryn L. Moore, Debra L. Goetz, Douglas E. Perry, David S. Rabb

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1978 the Cornell Law Review published a Special Project devoted to Article Two commercial warranties. Nine years have since elapsed, and we have decided to update and reassess this important area of the law. We have discovered that although judicial treatment of many aspects of Article Two warranty law has remained stable, in some instances the courts' treatment has progressed and in other instances it has become unclear. This Special Project is our attempt to assemble these changes, interpret the progress, and suggest new lines of analysis to clarify areas of conflict.

The Collision Of Tort And Contract In The Construction Industry, Murray H. Wright, Edward E. Nicholas Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

Over the past two decades, several courts have allowed construction industry plaintiffs to assert tort claims to recover for purely economic losses (i.e. other than injury to person or property) from other participants in the construction process. Parties assert tort claims, instead of or in addition to contract claims, to take advantage of the more liberal tort damage rules and, probably more importantly, to escape unfavorable contract provisions. This article briefly discusses the different origins and goals of tort and contract law. It then reviews some of the decisions allowing recovery of purely economic losses in tort as well as …

Strict Liability For Chattel Leasing, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Leasing has become an increasingly popular substitute for outright purchases as a means of acquiring products for use. Few courts and commentators, however, have addressed the question of whether the principles of strict products liability which apply to sellers also apply to lessors. In this Article, Professor Ausness reviews the historical basis for imposing strict liability in tort on sellers and applies these rationales to five basic kinds of lease transactions. He concludes that strict liability should not apply when a product defect arises after the leased product is placed in the hands of the lessee (as contrasted with the …

The Chaos Of The "Battle Of The Forms": Solutions, John E. Murray, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Whatever may be said of the lack of certainty, stability, and predictability in many areas of the law, chaos rarely is discovered. Unfortunately, we have now reached that point in matters involving attempts by innumerable buyers and sellers to make contracts through an exchange of printed forms. Because printed forms will continue to be the written evidence of the overwhelming majority of attempted contracts in America,' this chaos threatens the institution of contract in our society. There should be no doubt that"chaos" is an accurate characterization of the state of the law in the "battle of the forms" arena. Courts …

Modernizing Kentucky's Uniform Commercial Code, Harold R. Weinberg, Louise Everett Graham, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1958 Kentucky became the third state to enact the Uniform Commercial Code promulgated by the American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The General Assembly stated that this legislation was intended to modernize, clarify and simplify the law of commercial transactions. Enactment of the Code also evidenced the legislature's intent to make Kentucky commercial law uniform with that of the other states. Subsequent General Assemblies further implemented these policies by enacting substantially all of the uniform amendments to the Code proposed by the ALI and NCCUSL through 1964.

Unfortunately, these enactments represent our …

Corporations And Corporate Agents: Liability On Commercial Paper Contracts And Attainment Of Holder Status, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article focuses on two classes of commercial paper issues. Section I considers the Uniform Commercial Code rules relevant to determining whether a corporation or its agents are bound by contracts made upon a negotiable instrument. Application of these rules continues to be an important and recurrent source of legal disputes. Section II considers the rights of corporations or their agents to obtain holder status prerequisite to enforcing commercial paper contracts. Problems relating to the attainment of this status can result from corporate engagement in joint-enterprise with artificial or natural persons and from the linkage of corporations through common ownership …

The Warranty Of Merchantability And Computer Software Contracts: A Square Peg Won't Fit In A Round Hole, Edward G. Durney

Washington Law Review

Courts have consistently held that Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.) governs transactions involving computer hardware. Treatment of computer software transactions has been less consistent. This Comment contends that computer software, an intangible, is not within the scope of Article 2. It further contends that the warranty of merchantability cannot meaningfully be applied by analogy in computer software contracts. Finally, this Comment concludes that existing tort and contract causes of action provide software users with sufficient protection.

Evidentiary Problems In--And Solutions For--The Uniform Commercial Code, Ronald J. Allen, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Uniform Commercial Code does not offer a systematic approach to the rules governing the evidentiary relationships of parties to commercial litigation. In this article, Professors Allen and Hillman present a general analytical approach to proof rules, highlight the shortcomings of the Code's evidentiary provisions, and discuss the inevitable confusion in the case law construing the Code. They propose an amendment to the Code designed to clarify and improve the Code approach.

Twisting Slowly, Slowly In The Wind: The Effect Of Delay On A Surety's Obligations In Virginia, Michael J. Herbert

University of Richmond Law Review

It is a commonplace among lawyers that the surety, especially the uncompensated surety, is a favorite of the law whose obligations are strictly construed, and with whose sacred rights no designing creditor dare tamper with impunity. In fact, a more reliable maxim might be that "the [surety's] lot is not a happy one." While at common law any change in the obligation of the principal to the creditor discharges the surety, this rule, in many respects, is quite meaningless; and, even where meaningful, easily circumvented. The consent of the surety to a change in the obligation generally precludes discharge, even …

The Efficacy Of Guaranty Contracts In Sophisticated Commercial Transactions, Peter A. Alces

Faculty Publications

Even though contracts of guaranty are not subject to uniform standards of interpretation throughout the states, both case law and statutory development have tended to evidence a strong sympathy for the guarantor. In spite of this trend, Professor Alces suggests that creditors' counsel can, through careful drafting, do much to assure the enforceability of the guaranty contract. A scrupulously structured guaranty contract, one that anticipates possible defenses to liability in explicit terms, may well be upheld, even in cases in which guarantors occupied weak negotiating positions vis-a-vis creditors. Moreover, the attack on the guaranty as a fraudulent conveyance under section …

Contract Modification Under The Restatement (Second) Of Contracts, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Contract Law In Modern Commercial Transactions, An Artifact Of Twentieth Century Business Life?, James J. White

Articles

Diligent first year law students study contract law with a passion previously reserved for romantic objects and religious idols. Their professors lead them in extensive and difficult intellectual explorations of the wilds of contract law. There are careful analyses of why damage recovery X will stimulate performance Y, why recovery A is appropriate to encourage the aggrieved party to return to the market, and so on and so forth. Lurking behind this year long analysis are several inarticulate hypotheses: that they make rational evaluations of the threat of legal sanctions; that they respond in other varied and subtle ways to …

Eight Cases And Section 251, James J. White

Articles

[A] continuing sense of reliance and security that the promised performance will be forthcoming. . . is an important feature of the bargain-so states Comment 1 to section 2-609 of the Uniform Commercial Code. At common law, one party to a contract might suffer considerable and justifiable anxiety about the other party's willingness or ability to perform and yet have no legal basis for cancelling the contract or for procuring additional assurances from the other party. Section 251 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts is designed to provide a remedy for one party's reasonable fears that the other party to …

Recovery Of Consequential Damages For Product Recall Expenditures, Bradford Stone

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secured Party's Right To Sue Third Persons For Damage To Or Defects In Collateral, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The proverb “there is many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip” might have been written with the secured creditor in mind. Many tragedies may befall him to defeat his expectations. He takes his security interest hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst—nonperformance of the obligation secured. If he does not carefully comply with the Article Nine provisions concerning the enforceability and perfection of a security interest, he may ultimately be unsecured. If his security interest is enforceable and perfected, it may turn out that some other party has priority to the collateral. Even if the secured …

Two Decades Of 2-207: Review, Reflection And Revision, Paul Barron, Thomas W. Dunfee

Cleveland State Law Review

This article is divided into six parts: (1) a description of the modern commercial context within which UCC section 2-207 was created and is now applied; (2) a summary of the pre-Code rule; (3) an overview of the rule engendered by section 2-207; (4) an analysis of the interpretative history of section 2-207; (5) a proposed decision model for the application of section 2-207; and (6) the suggested statutory revision.

Impossibility, Impracticability, And Supervening Illegality, James J. White

Book Chapters

The Doctrine of Impossibility, or as the Uniform Commercial Code knows it, Excuse by Failure of Presupposed Conditions, remains one of the unclimbed peaks of contract doctrine. All of the famous early and mid-twentieth century mountaineers, Corbin, Williston, Farnsworth and many lesser men have made attempts on this doctrine, but none have succeeded in climbing it to the very top. The doctrine inheres in Section 2-615 of the UCC, in Sections 454 - 469 of the Restatement of Contracts and in a series of Anglo-American cases stretching back for many years. In spite of attempts by all of the contract …

A Synopsis Of The Major Revisions To Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code Adopted By Virginia, John W. Edmonds Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

When the Uniform Commercial Code became effective in Mississippi and South Carolina on January 1, 1968, it reached its goal of near uniform enactment. Maintaining this achievement of uniform adoption, however, has proven to be most difficult with regard to the Code's treatment of "secured transactions" in Article 9. In 1966, the Permanent Editorial Board 2 noted that there had been 337 non-uniform, non-official amendments to Article 9 of the Code. Accordingly, the Board established a Review Committee to restudy Article 9 in depth and report its findings. The study culminated in the Final Report of the Permanent Editorial Board …

Restricting Disclaimer Of The Warranty Of Merchantability In Consumer Sales: Proposed Alternatives To The Ucc, William M. Musser Iii

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Uniform Commercial Code- Breach Of Warranty- Applicable Statute Of Limitations For Personal Injury

University of Richmond Law Review

Statutes of limitation are statutes of repose, the object of which is to compel the exercise of a right of action within a reasonable time. They are designed to suppress fraudulent and stale claims from being asserted after a great lapse of time, to the surprise of the parties, when the evidence may have been lost, the facts may have become obscure because of defective memory, or the witnesses have died or dis- appeared.

Enforcement Of A Promise In Modern American Law (Gendai Amerikaho Ni Okeru Yakusoku No Kyosei), Whitmore Gray

Articles

A series of seminar lectures given by Whitmore Gray in Tokyo, Japan during October 1968. Six articles were subsequently published in “Kaigai Shojihomu” (The International Business Law Bulletin) between July 1969 and May 1970.

The sixth and final installment describes the history of contractual enforcement in the U.S. and highlights changes introduced through adoption of the UCC.