Landmark Cases in the Law of Contract

Landmark Cases in the Law of Contract offers 12 original essays by leading UK contract scholars. As with the essays in the companion volume, Landmark Cases in the Law of Restitution (Hart, 2006), each essay takes as its focus a particular leading UK case and analyzes that case in its historical or theoretical context. The cases range from the early 18th- to the late 20th- centuries, and they deal with an array of contractual doctrines. Some of the essays call for a case to be stripped of its landmark status, while others essays argue that a case has more to offer than previously appreciated. The particular historical context of these landmark UK cases often shows that current assumptions about the cases, and what they stands for, are either mistaken or require radical modification. The book also explores several common themes which are fundamental to the development of the law of contract — the influence of commercial expectations, appeals to 'reason,' and the significance of particular judicial ideologies and techniques.