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Formalism

University of Missouri School of Law

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Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Embracing Unconscionability’S Safety Net Function, Amy J. Schmitz Oct 2008

Embracing Unconscionability’S Safety Net Function, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Despite courts' and commentators' denial of morality and focus on efficiency in contract law, fairness and flexibility have remained the bedrocks of the unconscionability doctrine. This Article therefore departs from the popular formalist critiques of unconscionability that urge for the doctrine's demise or constraint based on claims that its flexibility and lack of clear definition threaten efficiency in contract law. Contrary to this formalist trend, this Article proposes that unconscionability is necessarily flexible and contextual in order to serve its historical and philosophical function of protecting core human values. Unconscionability is not frivolous gloss on classical contract law. Instead, it …


Defensor Fidei: The Travails Of A Post-Realist Formalism, Lyrissa Lidsky Jan 1995

Defensor Fidei: The Travails Of A Post-Realist Formalism, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

This Article probes the philosophical and psychological attractions of formalism and suggests that its promise of stability and order may be essential to the effective functioning of the legal system, even if the promise can never be realized.