Required Resolution: Enforcing Contracts Without Courts
Chapman Nexus Law Journal, 2015
17 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2014 Last revised: 9 Oct 2015
Date Written: December 4, 2014
Abstract
Contract litigation is cost- and time-prohibitive for all but the most valuable or cheapest contracts. This short essay, accepting this reality, proposes a bypass of formal justice by use of mandatory expedited “resolution.” This is accomplished by passing a simple law that requires all contracts not eligible for small claims, but whose disputed value is below the usual costs of court litigation, to have pre-specified a “resolver” in the contract. Importantly, the resolver need not be a legal professional. In the event of alleged breach, the resolver resolves claims according to the processes detailed in this essay.
Keywords: contracts, alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, tort reform
JEL Classification: K12, K41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation