Contracts Commons^™

Two Alternate Visions Of Contract Law In 2025, Nancy S. Kim

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Eulogy For The Eula, A, Miriam A. Cherry

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Violence Against Women Act And Its Impact On The U.S. Supreme Court And International Law: A Story Of Vindication, Loss, And A New Human Rights Paradigm, The, Cheryl Hanna

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Death Of Contracts, The, Franklin G. Snyder, Ann M. Mirabito

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sheppard V. Taylor, 5 Peters 675 (1831): Deception On The High Seas And The Quest For Lost Wages, Steven Zerhusen

Legal History Publications

This Article follows the case of the ship Warren, which set sail in 1806 to take part in illicit trade with the Spanish colonies, unbeknownst to all on board except for the supercargo. After dealing with the suicide of the captain and capture in Concepcion Bay, Chile, the crew languished for years in Spanish prison. After trying for almost 20 years the proceeds of the ship were finally returned to the owners, and the crew filed petition. Not until 1831 was their libel upheld, and wages from their voyage 25 years earlier to be paid to the crew. This article …

Food For Thought: Genetically Modified Seeds As De Facto Standard Essential Patents, Benjamin M. Cole, Brent J. Horton, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

For several years, courts have been improperly calculating damages in cases involving the unlicensed use of genetically-modified (GM) seed technology. In particular, when courts determine patent damages based on the hypothetical negotiation method, they err in exaggerating these damages to a point where no rational negotiator would agree. In response, we propose a limited affirmative defense of an implied license due to the patent’s status as a de facto standard essential patent. To be classified as a de facto standard essential patent, the farmer must prove three elements that reflect the peculiarities of GM seeds used in farming: (1) dominance, …

Judicial Vision Of Contract: The Constructed Circle Of Assent And Unconscionability, The, John E. Jr. E. Murray Jr.

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Future Of Fault In Contract Law, The, Robert A. Hillman

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Situational Duress And The Aberrance Of Electronic Contracts, Nancy S. Kim

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explains how the aberrant nature of electronic contracts has unique implications, which contract law should recognize. Companies, taking advantage of these unique implications, may use electronic contracts in an unfair and coercive manner, which is why this article proposes expanding the definition of duress to include “situational duress.” Situational duress would not encompass all electronic contracting scenarios, but would be limited to situations where (1) a drafting company uses an electronic contract to block consumer access to a product or service; (2) the consumer has a “vested interest” in that product or service; and (3) the consumer accepts …

The Judicial Vision Of Contract - The Constructed Circle Of Assent And Printed Terms, John E. Murray Jr.

St. Thomas Law Review

The perennial dilemma of modern contract law is the effect to be accorded standardized terms, the printed "boilerplate" terms that appear in the overwhelming majority of contracts and are typically ignored. The dilemma has been exacerbated by recent decisions addressing the operative effect of standardized terms that appear after the contract has been formed. The confusion emanating from such "terms-later" cases has made even the chronology of contract-making uncertain.

Comparative And Normative Analysis Of Damages Under The Sga And The Cesl, Reza Beheshti

St. Thomas Law Review

This article strives to analyze the rules concerning monetary damages under two different legal regimes for the sale of goods: the Sale of Goods Act of 1979 ("SGA") and the Proposal for a Common European Sales Law in 2011 ("CESL"). It is not the purpose of this article to provide an exhaustive exposition of the doctrines of either regime. Instead, the focus will be on the central aspects of monetary damages, such as the aim of damages and general rules governing the measure of damages. It should be noted that inevitably there will be some references to the commentaries on …

Ghosts Have Rights Too! A New Era In Contractual Rights: Third-Party Invocation In Forum Selection Clauses, Monika L. Woodard

St. Thomas Law Review

In the wake of non-party adhesion becoming an increasingly large problem for the federal and state courts, this comment proposes a modification to the test set forth by Judge Posner in Raintree. This comment also makes a call to the Supreme Court for action in determining a ceiling standard for non-party invocation of forum selection clauses. Part II of this comment considers the direction of the Supreme Court in past decisions on forum selection clauses in general and the implications of these decisions on the future of the clauses. Part III discusses the relatively new question surrounding forum selection clauses …

To Pay Or Not To Pay: Interpretation Of Section 302 Of The Labor Management Relations Act As Evidenced By Titan Tire, Dylan Mooney

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Uncertainty And Aberrant Contracts: The Choice Of Law Clause, William J. Woodward Jr.

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Legal uncertainty about the applicability of local consumer protection can destroy a consumer’s claim or defense within the consumer arbitration environment. What is worse, because the consumer arbitration system cannot accommodate either legal complexity or legal uncertainty, the tendency will be to resolve cases in the way the consumer’s form contract dictates, that is, in favor of the drafter. To demonstrate this effect and advocate statutory change, this article focuses on fee-shifting statutes in California and several other states. These statutes convert very common one-way fee-shifting terms (consumer pays business’s attorneys fees if business wins but not the other way …

Some Economic Insights Into Application Of Payments Doctrine: Walker-Thomas Revisited, James W. Bowers

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Contractual relations frequently involve multiple transactions, which might give rise either to a single aggregate debt, or else to multiple differing obligations. This conflict creates the application of payments problem. Unsurprisingly, the common law developed long-standing rules for the application of partial payments to multiple, but remedially distinguishable debts. The subject is made timely again by the recent enactments of the 1999 revision of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Article 9 instructs courts how to solve the application of payments problem when some partial payments might satisfy “purchase money” security interests. The enactments repealed the common law application …

Tenure, The Aberrant Consumer Contract, James J. White

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The tenure contract that prevails among the faculty at nearly all American colleges and universities is unusual, for the employee, who is normally the weaker, is favored by the contract over the employer, who is normally the stronger. The first part of the paper explains what tenure means and how it came about in the early twentieth century. The second part of the paper argues that the contract protects not only academic freedom but also bad teaching and weak scholarship. Finally the paper argues that the tenure contract should be abolished or restricted to minimize the inefficiencies that are now …

Are You Free To Contract Away Your Right To Bring A Negligence Claim?, Scott J. Burnham

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explores the enforceability of the exculpatory clause—a contract term in which one party agrees to give up the right to bring a negligence claim against the other party. A spectrum of views on whether a contract containing such a clause is aberrant or not is presented and analyzed, followed by the author’s view of the rubric by which the enforceability of the clause should be measured. The article concludes by deconstructing one contract in which the clause was found.

The Restatement (Second) Of Contracts Reasonably Certain Terms Requirement: A Model Of Neoclassical Contract Law And A Model Of Confusion And Inconsistency, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Contract Law And The Hand Formula, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mutual Assent, Normative Degradation, And Mass Market Standard Form Contracts––A Two-Part Critique Of Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights And The Rule Of Law (Part I), Steven W. Feldman

Cleveland State Law Review

Although her book has achieved great renown, receiving high praise from prominent commentators, with plaudits such as “groundbreaking,” “a great achievement,” and a “masterpiece,” I respectfully suggest that the book has problems on both doctrinal and normative grounds. In my Article, I summarize the author’s argument on normative degradation, identify my concerns, and propose an alternative formulation. My counter thesis is that both statute and court decisions properly support consumer rights in the area of voluntary consent for mass-market standard form contracts. Besides being the first full-length critique of Boilerplate, this Article also has contributed some original observations to the …

Situational Duress And The Aberrance Of Electronic Contracts, Nancy Kim

Faculty Scholarship

This article explains how the aberrant nature of electronic contracts has unique effects. Companies take advantage of these unique effects and use electronic contracts in a coercive manner. This article proposes the new defense of “situational duress” to address the exploitative use of electronic contracts in certain situations.

Part I explains why electronic contracts are aberrant and explains how the developing law in this area deviates from traditional contract doctrine. This section also discusses how the electronic form affects consumer behavior and understanding of contract terms. Part II provides background to the traditional doctrine of duress and introduces the concept …

What Boilerplate Said: A Response To Omri Ben-Shahar (And A Diagnosis), Margaret Jane Radin

Law & Economics Working Papers

This essay responds to Omri Ben-Shahar’s review of my book, Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (Princeton 2013). Ben-Shahar’s review (available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2255161) unfortunately does not convey the nature of this book to possible readers. His preconceptions – reflecting primarily what I call “old-school Chicago”--apparently caused him to believe that some strong version of “autonomy” was the focus of my book. Instead, the book’s purpose is to gather together a broad range of ideas relevant to boilerplate, in order to encourage readers to consider opportunities for improving our theory and practice. It makes detailed suggestions …

Foreign Investments And The Market For Law, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Susan D. Franck

Scholarly Publications

In this Article, Professors O’Hara O’Connor and Franck adapt and extend Larry Ribstein’s positive framework for analyzing the role of jurisdictional competition in the law market. Specifically, the authors provide an institutional framework focused on interest group representation that can be used to balance the tensions underlying foreign investment law, including the desire to compete to attract investments and countervailing preferences to retain domestic policymaking discretion. The framework has implications for the respective roles of BITs and investment contracts as well as the inclusion and interpretation of various foreign investment provisions.

Protecting Victims From Liability Insurance Companies That Add Gratuitous Insult To Grievous Injury, Francis J. Mootz Iii

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Many Contracts, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

Forty years ago, my former colleague, the late Ian Macneil, published an article entitled The Many Futures of Contracts. When I was asked to contribute to this symposium on what contract law might look like in 2025, the play on words was too good to resist. Professor Macneil developed the notion of "relational contracts," emphasizing the limits of classical contract law in dealing with long-term contractual relations. His work had a strong influence on scholarship, including my work. The notion that many contractual relationships are long-lived and require some form of adaptation as circumstances change and new information becomes available …

A Nihilistic View Of The Efficient Breach, Jeffrey L. Harrison

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article began as a reaction to an article by Daniel Makovits and Alan Schwartz in the Virginia Law Review, “The Myth of the Efficient Breach. . . .” In their article they offer what they call “new defenses” of the expectation interest as a contract remedy. Much of their analysis has been anticipated by others. Plus, in my view the law and economics concepts they seem to rely on lost their legitimacy years ago. Their article was the catalyst for this broader examination of forty years of writing about the efficient breach and an assessment of where it has …

Expanded Merchant Tort Liability, Democratic Degradation, And Mass Market Standard Form Contracts—A Two-Part Critique Of Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, And The Rule Of Law (Part Ii), Steven W. Feldman

Cleveland State Law Review

Analyzing a difficult subject that pervades contract law and which is vital to the national economy, many scholars have written about boilerplate contracts. With her 2013 book, Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights and the Rule of Law, Professor Margaret Jane Radin weighs in on the discussion. In a complement to existing contract remedies against abusive boilerplate, she proposes a new tort that she calls “intentional deprivation of basic legal rights.” She also identifies another new tort theory that deems abusive boilerplate to be a defective “product” under the law of products liability.

Radin further contends that these merchant practices …

Contracts: An Introduction To A Symposium And A Few Additional Thoughts, Jennifer S. Martin

St. Thomas Law Review

On February 21, 2014, the St. Thomas University School of Law opened a symposium entitled simply "Contracts" in conjunction with the Ninth Annual International Conference on Contracts hosted by the School of Law. The decision of the St. Thomas Law Review to sponsor and conduct a symposium on the simple broad reaching topic of contract law with this esteemed group was a natural decision and exciting opportunity. Contract law has long been a foundation study for students and scholars with a rich history and significance to individuals and businesses alike. Significantly, as reflected by Dr. Roni Rosenberg in his essay …

Donee Beneficiaries And The Parol Evidence Rule, Joseph M. Perillo

St. Thomas Law Review

Donee beneficiaries are pretty peculiar. They own the rights created by a contract created by others. Their rights have primacy over the promisee's rights' but the promisees have enforceable rights as well. The donee beneficiaries may be totally unaware of these enforceable rights for which they have not given consideration. For purposes of this essay, "donee beneficiary" means any intended beneficiary other than a creditor beneficiary. A creditor beneficiary is a promisor who assumes a debt that "will satisfy an obligation of the promisee to pay money to the beneficiary . ... " Thus defined, third party donee beneficiaries are …

Emergence On Contract Standards And Its Future Impact On Legal Education, Kingsley Martin

St. Thomas Law Review

Let me start with a story. It was almost thirty years ago that I graduated from Harvard Law School and joined my first law firm. I distinctly remember my first assignment, which was to draft a credit agreement. Despite my education, I had no clue how to perform the assignment. I had to do it the same way as everyone else, which was to go around the corridors, bang on some doors, get some examples, sit down and start to read them. I have no doubt that my first few attempts and, in all likelihood, years' worth of drafts, were …