Law Commons^™

The Law Of Contract And The Concept Of Change: Public And Private Attempts To Regulate Modification, Waiver, And Estoppel, David V. Snyder

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article argues that contractual change is inherently problematic because contract and change are fundamentally antithetical. Because change is inevitable, however, the law of contract attempts to regulate the effect of change. These attempts are divided into two realms: public regulation, including the preexisting duty rule and its substitutes, and private regulation, including contractual "no oral modification" and "no oral waiver" clauses. The article criticizes not only the preexisting duty rule but also the duress and good faith tests that have been suggested as substitutes. Instead, the article proposes a "coercion" test, which is stated in detail and which is …