Hoffman v. Red Owl Stores is one of the most famous 20th century cases in American contract law, usually credited both with expanding the reach of the promissory estoppel doctrine and with opening up the issue of liability for precontractual reliance. It is a staple in contracts casebooks. By...

"Contracts: Law in Action" is rare, if not unique, among contracts casebooks. It is perhaps the only casebook devoted to a "law and society" approach to first-year contracts. A new, 4th edition will be released shortly. We provide here an excerpt on the development of the law of...