Understanding Contract Law

Understanding Contract Law provides an accessible, in-depth analysis of the purpose of contracting and the role of the law of contract, as well as theories that inform it, assessing the historical development of this cornerstone of law and how theories are applied in jurisdictions throughout the world.

Understanding Contract Law provides an accessible, in-depth analysis of the purpose of contracting and the role of the law of contract, as well as theories that inform it. Assessing the historical development of this cornerstone of law, the book provides detailed analysis of some of the leading theoretical explanations, and how they are applied in jurisdictions throughout the world.

With a new chapter examining the impact of globalization on contract law, this new edition also includes recent behavioural research around responses to contract breach. The book’s accessibility is enhanced by text boxes defining key concepts and terms, and biographical notes of leading figures and scholars. This ensures that readers are able to gain a clear understanding of the narratives and theories explained in the book, and to appreciate how contract law has evolved.

Uniquely, the book is not limited to one jurisdiction, making this an essential text for students wishing to expand their knowledge of this fundamental area of law around the world.

1. What is contract for? And what is contract law for? 2. The historical context of contract 3. Classical and neo-classical contract 4. The ideological context of contract 5. The relational context of contract 6. The economic context of contract law: Part I 7. The economic context of contract law: Part 2 8. Contract and Globalization

"Its chapters set out in a coherent sequence most of the principal lines of theoretical inquiry to which the study of the law of contract should give rise … there really is nothing for students like these chapters in UK literature … I myself have tried to utilise the theoretical insights Dr Austen-Baker and Dr Zhou describe in this book in my own work on contract. I am very happy to see this effort continue in the hands of two members of a subsequent generation of contract scholars who have so ably taken on what, in the end, is the most important task …of making those insights of interest to students. I believe Dr Austen-Baker and Dr Zhou have accomplished this task, and have done doing so while conveying the intellectual quality of those insights."
—David Campbell, Lancaster University Law School

Richard Austen-Baker is Senior Lecturer in Law at Lancaster University Law School where he has taught since 2004. He has been teaching contracts and commercial law to undergraduates every year since 1999.

Qi Zhou is Associate Professor for Law at the University of Leeds Law School, having joined in June 2013. Prior to this, he was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield.