Contract Law: An Introduction to the English Law of Contract for the Civil Lawyer

by John Cartwright

Overview

This book gives an introduction to the English law of contract. The third edition has been fully updated to cover recent developments in case law and recent statutes such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015. However, this new edition retains the primary focus of the earlier editions: it is designed to introduce the lawyer trained in a civil law jurisdiction to the method of reasoning in the common law, and in particular to the English law of contract. It is written for the lawyer - whether student or practitioner - from another jurisdiction who already has an understanding of a (different) law of contract, but who wishes to discover the way in which an English lawyer views a contract. However, it is also useful for the English law student: setting English contract law generally in the context of other European and international approaches, the book forms an introductory text, not only demonstrating how English contract law works but also giving a glimpse of different ways of thinking about some of the fundamental rules of contract law from a civil law perspective. After a general introduction to the common law system - how a common lawyer reasons and finds the law - the book explains the principles of the law of contract in English law covering all the aspects of a contract from its formation to the remedies available for breach, whilst directing attention in particular to those areas where the approach of English law is in marked contrast to that taken in many civil law systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509902927
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	06/02/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	570 KB

About the Author

John Cartwright is Professor of the Law of Contract at the University of Oxford and Professor of Anglo-American Private Law at the University of Leiden.
John Cartwright is Professor of the Law of Contract at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Law Faculty's Institute of European and Comparative Law.



Photo courtesy of Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

Part I: An Introduction to the Common Law
1 The 'Common Law'
I. The 'Common Law' of England
II. Common Law Systems Around the World
2 Finding the Law
I. The Sources of Law
II. The Judge as Interpreter and as Law-Maker
III. English Statutory Drafting
Part II: The Law of Contract
3 Introduction to the English Law of Contract
I. The Place of Contract in Private Law
II. A General Law of Contract; the Place of 'Special' Contracts
III. Some General Features and Some Fundamental Starting-Points
IV. English Contract Law in a European Context
4 The Negotiations for a Contract
I. The Starting-Point: No General Duty between Negotiating Parties
II. Particular Liabilities Arising During the Negotiations
5 Formation of the Contract: Contract as 'Agreement'
I. The Meaning of 'Agreement': the 'Objective Test'
II. The Mechanisms of Contract Formation: the Rules of Offer and Acceptance
III. Minimum Content and Certainty
6 Form, Consideration and Intention
I. Formality in the Formation of Contracts
II. The Doctrine of Consideration
III. Promissory Estoppel
IV. Contractual Intention
7 Vitiating Factors: Void, Voidable and Unenforceable Contracts
I. The Vitiating Factors in English Law; Void and Voidable Contracts
II. Mistake
III. Misrepresentation and Non-Disclosure
IV. Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionable Bargains
V. Capacity
VI. Illegality and Public Policy
8 Finding the Terms of the Contract
I. The 'Terms' of a Contract
II. Finding and Interpreting the Express Terms
III. Implied Terms
9 Controlling the Content of the Contract: 'Unfair' Contracts
I. Indirect Controls over the 'Fairness' of the Contract
II. Direct Controls over the 'Fairness' of the Contract
10 Who has the Benefit of the Contract? Who is Bound by the Contract?
I. Who is a 'Party' to the Contract? The Doctrine of Privity of Contract
II. Avoiding the Doctrine of Privity
III. Reform by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
IV. Assignment and Novation of Contractual Rights and Duties
11 Change of Circumstances
I. The Doctrine of Frustration
II. Using Contract Terms to Anticipate Changes of Circumstances
12 Remedies for Breach of Contract
I. 'Breach of Contract'
II. Specific Performance and Injunction
III. Termination for Breach
IV. Damages
V. Debt
VI. Consumer contracts for the Sale or Supply of Goods: Rejection, Repair, Replacement or Reduction in Price
VII. Agreed Remedies
VIII. Learning About a Contract from the Remedies for Breach