Law Commons^™

Rethinking Jacob & Youngs V. Kent, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

Most living lawyers have run into Jacob & Youngs, Inc. v. Kent in their legal education. It has long been a staple in Contracts casebooks. While the result has been widely applauded, in recent years there has been some push-back. Professor Kenneth Ching has recently criticized both Cardozo’s argument and the result. Professor Robert Scott in a number of papers, some coauthored, has also concluded that the result was wrong. Yet given the state of New York law at the time Cardozo’s result was correct. Moreover, I will argue, the outcome is one that parties would adopt today. Ironically, despite …