A smart contract is an agreement enforced by blockchain technology. It supposedly allows the parties involved to conduct transactions more efficiently than a traditional contract, which is based on legal (costly) enforcement. This chapter challenges this claim. Given the need for an...

Unfair terms law as an area of consumer contract law becomes more and more important and, within the European context, new forms of enforcement are discussed in order to augment the level of effectiveness of consumer protection. Personalization of the law could have a significant impact on the...

What does it mean to consent? Consent is an essential component of contracts, yet its part in contract law is obscure. Despite its importance, there is no independent doctrine of consent; rather, it plays a key, but ill-defined role in assessing doctrines such as assent or duress. This Article...

In this short essay, I criticize Professor Jane Stapleton's argument (defended in her article ‘The Normal Expectancies Measure in Tort Damages' (1997) 113 LQR 257) that “[c]lassifying compensatory damages into different measures of damages is a useful analytical device in the study of the...

In at least two decisions the New Zealand Court of Appeal has countenanced that the common law, independently of any express or implied statutory rule, might require a party to contract with someone it does not want to. These cases involved private sporting bodies, but the supposed principle...

This article points out that procurement law is likely to have the side effect of hindering the development of IPPP contracts by introducing uncertainties regarding IPPP contracts´ classification for the purpose of its procurement. Keeping in mind the Commission´s policy of promoting IPPP...

Economic analysis suggests that the hesitation to contractualize marriage creates a number of inefficiencies. This paper discusses these inefficiencies and then proposes an economic reconceptualization of Continental marriage law. By bringing in more contract into the statutes regulating...

The term “liberty of contract” is usually associated with the doctrine that the due process clause of the United States Constitution prohibits or should prohibit the State from regulating contracts between private individuals. Many libertarians and free-market advocates embrace the liberty...

One of the most prominent clauses in Government contracts in India is the risk purchase or the risk and cost clause. This authorises the promisee to get the promise fulfilled either by itself or through a third person in case of the promisor’s default and allows the promisee to be compensated...