Contract Law Minimalism

Critically examines moral-promissory, economic and socio-legal perspectives on contract law, arguing that it should be formal and minimalistic by design.

How can contract law best provide the framework for commercial exchange? This book contends that a minimalistic regime of strict rules is optimal. The author engages fully with the important arguments of relational contract theory and law and economics, but concludes that courts should not assume an active regulatory role.Commercial contract law is in every sense optional given the choice between legal systems and law and arbitration. Its 'doctrines' are in fact virtually all default rules. Contract Law Minimalism advances the thesis that commercial parties prefer a minimalist law that sets out to enforce what they have decided - but does nothing else. The limited capacity of the legal process is the key to this 'minimalist' stance. This book considers evidence that such minimalism is indeed what commercial parties choose to govern their transactions. It critically engages with alternative schools of thought, that call for active regulation of contracts to promote either economic efficiency or the trust and co-operation necessary for 'relational contracting'. The book also necessarily argues against the view that private law should be understood non-instrumentally (whether through promissory morality, corrective justice, taxonomic rationality, or otherwise). It sketches a restatement of English contract law in line with the thesis.