Commercial Contract Law: Transatlantic Perspectives

This book focuses on the law of commercial contracts as constructed by the U.S. and UK legal systems. Leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic provide works of original scholarship focusing on current debates and trends from the two dominant common law systems. The chapters approach the subject areas from a variety of perspectives - doctrinal analysis, law and economic analysis, and social-legal studies, as well as other theoretical perspectives. The book covers the major themes that underlie the key debates relating to commercial contract law: role of consent; normative theories of contract law; contract design and good faith; implied terms and interpretation; policing contract behavior; misrepresentation, breach, and remedies; and the regional and international harmonization of contract law. Contributors provide insights on the many commonalities, but more interestingly, on the key divergences of the United States and United Kingdom's approaches to numerous areas of contract law. Such a comparative analysis provides a basis for future developments and improvements of commercial contract law in both countries, as well as other countries that are members of the common law systems. At the same time, insights gathered here should also be of interest to scholars and practitioners of the civil law tradition.