Contracts Commons^™

Design Matters: Modernizing The Federal Arbitration Act To Safeguard Party Autonomy, Sarah R. Cole

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Arbitration is a creature of contract. And it is basic arbitration law that arbitrators must respect contracting parties’ intent. The Federal Arbitration Act’s 100th anniversary offers an ideal moment to reaffirm this principle: arbitrators resolving commercial disputes should honor parties’ intent while preserving arbitration’s core values: efficiency, finality, and autonomy. Unfortunately, routine judicial deference to arbitration decisions often undermines parties’ intent as expressed through party design of the arbitration process. In response to this issue, this Article proposes amending the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to empower courts to safeguard two common arbitral party directives: limits on arbitrators’ remedial authority and …

Contract Or Prison, Sadie Blanchard

Journal Articles

Critics of the criminal enforcement system have condemned the expansion and privatization of electronic monitoring, criminal diversion, parole, and probation. But the astonishing perversion of contract involved in these new practices has gone unnoticed. Governments are turning to “offender-funded” programs that empower firms to contract with people who are suspected of or have been convicted of crimes— and whose alternative to agreeing to these contracts is prosecution or incarceration. Though incarceration-alternative (IA) contracting is sometimes framed as humane, historical and current context illuminates its coercive nature. IA contracting must be examined under classical contract theory and in light of the …

Tortious Interference Revisited, Danielle D'Onfro, Cathy Hwang

Scholarship@WashULaw

Tortious interference with contract has bedeviled legal commentators for over a century. It can provide relief in some situations where straightforward contract breach cannot reach. But these claims have also been derided for threatening competition, at-will employment, free speech, and important guardrails on other private law claims. The doctrine is also difficult to square with theories of efficient contract breach and the long-held view that contracts on their own are not property interests.

Perhaps because of its intellectual awkwardness, tortious interference claims were relatively rare until the twenty-first century. In the last twenty years, the doctrine has exploded in popularity, …

Samuel Williston And The Restatement Of Contracts: How The Formalism Of Classical Legal Thought Modernized Contract Law, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Campbell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professors And Company Law: Implications For Academic Freedom, Salar Ghahramani J.D.

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

This Article examines the intersection of company law and academic freedom, specifically exploring how nonprofit universities might invoke corporate and agency law principles to assert breach of fiduciary duty claims when a university could view a professor’s handling of controversial topics or facilitation of provocative class discussions as detrimental to its financial interests or public reputation. Such allegations might arise when universities perceive that these discussions alienate donors, provoke public backlash, or otherwise harm the institution’s standing, thereby framing the professor’s academic choices as potentially disloyal or harmful to the university. While public university professors might argue that the First …

Time For A Clean Finish? Analyzing A New Path To Collective Bargaining At The Wwe, Paige Green

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note argues that professional wrestlers in the WWE face significant challenges in achieving fair compensation and better working conditions due to their classification as independent contractors, which denies them protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). It proposes that leveraging antitrust law could provide an alternative and effective strategy for wrestlers to collectively bargain and improve their circumstances, drawing parallels to successful efforts by UFC fighters.

Re-Recording The Record: The Case For A Stronger Moral Right Of Integrity In The United States, Alexandria Touron

Fordham Law Review

In the United States, musical artists have limited legal recourse over transferring ownership of their music to third parties, even when such transfers may harm the artist’s reputation or the integrity of the work. Even the most prominent musicians, like Taylor Swift, must operate within an industry structure that normalizes the transfer of rights and, thus, control of their creative works. This occurs because U.S. law ties artists’ rights almost exclusively to economic ownership of their work unless they specifically bargain to keep their moral rights. However, most other countries have comprehensive moral rights frameworks where all artists can protect …

The Contractarian Joint Venture, Carla L. Reyes, Christine Hurt

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In 2015, a group of entrepreneurs pooled their money together for the purpose of investing in other businesses. The entrepreneurs could have undertaken this activity through a traditional venture capital firm, but they wanted to cut out the middle-man, reduce fees, and retain more control over their capital, so they chose to undertake their investing on their own. The group of entrepreneurs chose not to form an entity. Instead, they attempted to limit their business and liability risk by conducting their activity entirely via software. Unfortunately, the software contained a bug, and an insider siphoned off millions of dollars belonging …

Nil Education At Universities As Student Athletes Face The Wild West, Ainsworth A. Bailey, Geoffrey Christopher Rapp, Shawn Tysiak

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arbitrator Selection Default Rules, Irene M. Ten Cate

American University Law Review

This Article makes the case for changing the default settings for the selection of arbitrators in international commercial arbitration. For three-member tribunals, the rules of most international arbitration institutions provide that each party picks an arbitrator. The institution or the co-arbitrators then select the tribunal’s president. This prescription, which parties may set aside by agreement, codifies longstanding practices and corresponds to the strong preference of international arbitration insiders. Nonetheless, I argue that arbitration rules should default toward institutional selection of all arbitrators.

Switching the default nudges parties that can’t take full advantage of the arbitrator selection game—due to inexperience, lack …

Learning From Mistakes: A Quantitative Comparative Study Of Court Decisions Involving The Excuse Of Contractual Mistake, Brian Mccall

Faculty Articles

In almost two decades of teaching Contracts law to first year law students, I have found one of the hardest doctrines to teach to be the excuse of mistake, both mutual and unilateral Students typically express the frustration that they cannot articulate a clear standard to determine when a party’s claim of an excusing mistake will succeed or fail. This frustration with the doctrine seems to be thousands of years old. After years of struggling to teach this topic, I resolved to dig deeper into the caselaw to see if any trends could be observed that would help dispel some …

What Might Contract Theory Be?, Gregory Klass

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Few contract theories begin with so comprehensive a discussion of method as does Stephen Smith’s book, Contract Theory. In the first chapter, “What Is Contract Theory,” Smith describes an interpretive approach guided by four goals: fit with the existing law, internal coherence, moral attractiveness, and transparency to legal actors.

This chapter in Understanding Private Law: Essays in Honour of Stephen A. Smith, does a deep dive into Smith’s description and defense of those goals. Smith pictures the contract theorist as an observer standing outside legal practice, interpreting the law but not participating in it. That picture results in …

Secondary-Default Remedies: Should Harshness Limit Enforcement?, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines a critical but largely unexplored issue in contract law: whether secondary defaults—that is, relatively minor or technical defaults not involving debt repayment— should justify enforcing severe contractual remedies. In the context of lending, this issue concerns whether those types of defaults should justify terminating financing commitments, accelerating the maturity of outstanding debt, and foreclosing on collateral, any of which can cause a firm’s failure. Although this issue arises constantly and its resolution can be critical to a firm’s survival, judges and lawyers lack clear answers. This Article analyzes and seeks to provide answers both under existing law …

Kedudukan Surat Keterangan Riwayat Tanah (Skt) Sebagai Alas Hak Kepemilikan Dan Penguasaan Tanah Yang Dikeluarkan Pada Saat Status Sengketa (Studi Putusan Mahkamahagung Nomor 1606 K/Pdt/2022), Helena Albright T Sitompul

Indonesian Notary

Artikel ini membahas mengenai kedudukan Surat Keterangan Riwayat Tanah (SKT) yang dijadikan sebagai bukti kepemilikan dan bukti hak dalam melakukan penguasaan atas tanah yang menjadi objek sengketa dalam Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1606/K/Pdt/2022. Pokok permasalahan dalam artikel ini adalah perihal SKT yang menjadi alas hak dalam menguasai tanah, ternyata dikeluarkan pada saat telah terjadi sengketa diatasnya. Penulisan artikel ini dilakukan denganmetode penelitian hukum doktrinal dengan tipologi penelitian preskriptif analisis, jenis data berupa data sekunder, dengan alat pengumpulan studi dokumen, serta analisis dilakukan secara kualitatif. Hasil peneliDan menunjukkan, bahwa SKT bukanlah bukti kepemilikan atas tanah, dan apabila merujuk pada Pasal 97 …

Perjanjian Kawin Yang Dibuat Di Hadapan Notaris Namun Tidak Didaftarkan Ke Dukcapil Terkait Dengan Pihak Ketiga (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Tinggi Semarang Nomor 50/Pdt/2021/Pt Smg), Chantiqa Dwi Ayudhia C

Indonesian Notary

Perjanjian Kawin yang dibuat pada saat atau sebelum perkawinan oleh calon pasangan suami istri mulai berlaku sejak perkawinan dilangsungkan dan disahkan pegawai pencatat perkawinan sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 29 ayat 1 UU Perkawinan Tahun 1974. Pendaftaran tersebut dimaksudkan sebagai bentuk pemenuhan syarat publisitas agar pihak ketiga dapat tunduk ke dalam isi perjanjian kawin yang dibuat. Penelitian ini menganalisis terkait Akta Perjanjian Kawin yang dijadikan dasar seorang istri melakukan perbuatan jual beli sepihak tanpa sepengetahuan dan tanpa persetujuan suaminya terhadap aset SHM 2233/Rejosari yang diperoleh sepanjang perkawinan kepada pihak ketiga dalam kasus Putusan Pengadilan Tinggi Semarang nomor 50/PDT/2021/PT Smg namun faktanya …

Analisis Pelampauan Jangka Waktu Perjanjian Sewa Menyewa Yang Dibuat Berdasarkan Perjanjian Bangun Guna Serah Sebagai Bentuk Pemanfaatan Aset Daerah, Syafa Nissa Amanda

Indonesian Notary

Perjanjian sekunder atau perjanjian yang dibuat berdasarkan perjanjian induk atau utama harus sejalan dan tidak bertentangan satu sama lain. Suatu perjanjian dikatakan sah apabila memenuhi syarat sah perjanjian yang tertuang dalam Pasal 1320 Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Perdata (“KUHPerdata”). Penelitian ini membahas mengenai bagaimana pengaturan dan penerapan perjanjian kerjasama Bangun Guna Serah dan juga membahas bagaimana kedudukan perjanjian sewa menyewa yang dibuat berdasarkan perjanjian Kerjasama Bangun Guna Serah. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penilitian doktrinal, dengan tipe penelitian eksplanatoris. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang dilakukan, didapatkan simpulan bahwa ketentuan pelaksanaan Bangun Guna Serah atas aset milik pemerintah daerah telah diatur di beberapa ketentuan …

Penerapan Pp No. 35 Tahun 2023 Mengenai Kewajiban Yang Dilematis Bagi Notaris Melaporkan Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual Beli Kepada Badan Pendapatan Daerah, Saarah Faadhilah

Indonesian Notary

Peraturan Pemerintah No. 35 Tahun 2023 tentang Ketentuan Umum Pajak Daerah dan Retribusi Daerah Pasal 60 ayat (1) huruf b PP No. 35 tahun 2023 tersebut, notaris wajib untuk melaporkan perjanjian pengikatan jual beli kepada Kepala Daerah, namun, pada pelaksanaannya dalam Pasal 16 ayat (1) huruf f Undang-Undang Jabatan Notaris notaris wajib untuk menjaga kerahasiaan isi akta. Hal tersebut, menimbulkan adanya disharmonisasi hukum. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bentuk penerapan Peraturan Pemerintah No. 35 tahun 2023 tentang Ketentuan Umum Pajak Daerah dan Retribusi Daerah terhadap kewajiban pelaporan Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual kepada Badan Pendapatan Daerah karena terdapat konsekuensi yang diterima notaris …

Tanggung Jawab Pejabat Pembuat Akta Tanah Yang Tidak Menindaklanjuti Pembuatan Akta Pemberian Hak Tanggungan (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Denpasar Nomor 1097/Pdt.G/2020/Pn.Dps), Shanea Gabrielle

Indonesian Notary

Penyaluran dana pinjaman yang dilakukan oleh Perusahaan Pembiayaan Sekunder Perumahan (PPSP) kepada debitor harus disertai dengan jaminan berupa tanah dan bangunan yang telah diikat dengan Hak Tanggungan sebagaimana ketentuan dalam Pasal 11 ayat (2) huruf c angka 1 Peraturan Otoritas Jasa Keuangan Nomor 12/POJK.05/2022 Tahun 2022 tentang Perusahaan Pembiayaan Sekunder Perumahan. Hal tersebut dimaksudkan sebagai tindakan mitigasi risiko bagi PPSP untuk mencegah timbulnya kemacetan pembayaran pinjaman oleh debitor yang semestinya dengan didasarkan oleh iktikad baik. Melalui Akta Pemberian Hak Tanggungan (APHT), PPSP sebagai penyalur pinjaman semestinya mendapatkan kepastian hukum akan adanya jaminan Hak Tanggungan untuk dapat dilakukannya pelelangan atas tanah …

Kepastian Hukum Sertifikat Hak Milik Atas Tanah Bekas Hak Milik Adat Yang Penguasaaannya Diklaim Oleh Subjek Hukum Lain (Studi Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1012 K/Pdt/2023), Ilma Zhafirah Albar

Indonesian Notary

Sertifikat Hak Milik yang diterbitkan oleh Kantor Pertanahan setempat sudah sepatutnya dianggap sebagai alat pembuktian berkekuatan hukum kuat sebagaimana yang ditentukan dalam Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1960 tentang Peraturan Dasar Pokok-pokok Agraria (“UUPA”), serta dalam Peraturan Pemerintah mengenai Pendaftaran Tanah. Permasalahan yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini mengenai ketentuan hukum dalam penyertifikatan tanah bekas hak milik adat yang diperoleh melalui pewarisan dan analisis terhadap pertimbangan hakim dalam putusan tersebut terkait status kepemilikan tanah bekas hak milik adat yang telah disertifikatkan dengan Sertifikat Hak Milik. Penelitian ini berupa penelitian doktrinal dengan tipologi penelitain preskriptif berdasarkan data primer dan sekunder yang dianalisis secara …

Ketidaktepatan Pertimbangan Hukum Majelis Hakim Dalam Membatalkan Surat Keterangan Waris Yang Dibuat Notaris (Studi Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Surabaya Nomor 204/Pdt.G/2023/Pn Sby), Muchammad Kawtsar

Indonesian Notary

Penelitian dilakukan dengan maksud menganalisis ketidaktepatan pertimbangan hukum majelis hakim dalam membatalkan SKW yang dibuat notaris. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian hukum doktrinal yang memaparkan masalah secara eksplanatoris untuk mengumpulkan data sekunder berupa bahan-bahan hukum melalui studi dokumen. Bahan-bahan yang telah dikumpulkan selanjutnya dianalisis secara kualitatif. Hasil analisis menjelaskan bahwa sebelum penghapusan penggolongan penduduk, masyarakat membuat SKW kepada lembaga-lembaga penerbit seperti lurah/camat, notaris, dan BHP sesuai golongan mereka. Selepas dihapuskan, maka masyarakat bebas hendak membuat SKW di lembaga manapun. Adapun pembatalan SKW yang dibuat notaris oleh majelis hakim berdasarkan pertimbangan hukum dalam Putusan Pengadilan Negeri Surabaya Nomor 204/Pdt.G/2023/PN Sby adalah tidak …