Contract Law and the Common Good
9 William & Mary Business Law Review 373 (2018).
16 Pages Posted: 18 May 2018
Date Written: May 3, 2018
Abstract
In The Dignity of Commerce, Nathan Oman offers a theory of contract law that is largely descriptive, but also strongly normative. His theory presents contract law’s purpose as supporting robust markets. This article compares and contrasts Oman’s argument about the proper understanding of contract law with one presented over eighty years earlier by Morris Cohen. Oman’s focus is on the connection between Contract Law and markets; Cohen’s connection had been between Contract Law and the public interest. Oman’s work brings back Cohen’s basic insight, and gives it a more concrete form, as a formidable normative theory with detailed prescriptions.
Keywords: Contract Law, Nathan Oman, Morris Cohen, Contract Theory
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