Paternalism and Contract Law
The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Paternalism, ed. Kalle Grill and Jason Hanna (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018) 293–310
35 Pages Posted: 28 May 2017 Last revised: 5 Feb 2018
Date Written: May 5, 2017
Abstract
This is an overview chapter, published in The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Paternalism. I suggest a classification of contract law rules and doctrines that are potentially or prima facie paternalistic, as constitutive, procedural, informational and substantive limits to freedom of contract. I also discuss non-paternalistic rationalisations of some of these rules in terms of justice or as responses to externalities and collective action problems.
Keywords: paternalism, freedom of contract, J.S. Mill
JEL Classification: D63, D86, K12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation