Full Description
This book provides a counter-balance to the traditional focus on judicial decisions by exploring the contribution of legal scholars to the development of private law.
In the book the work of a selection of leading scholars of contract law from across the common law world, ranging from Sir Jeffrey Gilbert (1674-1726) to Professor Brian Coote (1929-2019), is addressed by legal historians and current scholars in the field. The focus is on the nature of the work produced by the scholars in question, important influences on their work, and the impact which that work in turn had on thinking about contract law. The book also includes an introductory chapter and an afterword by Professor William Twining that explore connections between the scholars and recurrent themes.
The process of subjecting contract law scholarship to sustained analysis provides new insights into the intellectual development of contract law and reveals the central role played by scholars in that process. And by focusing attention on the work of influential contract scholars, the book serves to emphasise the importance of legal scholarship to the development of the common law more generally.
Contents
Preface v
Contributors ix
Table of Cases xi
Table of Legislation xvii
1. Scholars of Contract Law: Individuals and Themes - 1
James Goudkamp and Donal Nolan
2. Sir Jeffrey Gilbert (1674-1726) - 47
Michael Lobban
3. Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837) - 75
Joanna McCunn
4. Stephen Martin Leake (1826-1893) - 105
Catharine MacMillan
5. Professor Sir William Anson (1843-1914) - 129
Robert Stevens
6. Professor Sir Frederick Pollock (1845-1937) - 149
James Gordley
7. Professor Samuel Williston (1861-1963) - 175
Todd D Rakoff
8. Professor Arthur Linton Corbin (1874-1967) - 201
Gregory Klass
9. Professor Geoffrey Cheshire (1886-1978) and Cecil Fifoot
(1899-1975) - 229
Warren Swain
10. Professor Friedrich Kessler (1901-1998) - 253
Hugh Collins
11. Professor Sir Guenter Treitel (1928-2019) - 277
Andrew Burrows
12. Professor Ian Roderick Macneil (1929-2010) - 295
Jonathan Morgan
13. Professor Brian Coote (1929-2019) - 331
Stephen Waddams
viii Contents
14. Professor Patrick Atiyah (1931-2018) - 351
James Goudkamp
15. Afterword: Understanding Contracts - A Realist Perspective - 379
William Twining
Index - 407
