This paper uses the block‐booking film exhibition contracts that were the subject of Paramount to examine the role of contract terms in facilitating self‐enforcing relationships. Because of the large uncertainty in film value at the time of contracting, it is difficult to fully specify...

Court enforcement and private enforcement are not alternative contract enforcement mechanisms, but are used jointly by transactors to define the self-enforcing range of a contractual relationship. Within this framework contract terms economize on the limited amounts of private enforcement...