Basic Contract Law, Concise Edition

by Lon L. Fuller, Melvin Eisenberg, Mark Gergen

The Concise Edition is a streamlined version for a 4-unit course. Concision is achieved in three ways. As in earlier versions of the concise edition, coverage of some basic materials is shortened by eliminating note materials and cases and a few principal cases. Some materials are reduced to notes that cover the basics. Examples in the materials on remedies include the requirement of certainty for lost profits as consequential damages, damages for emotional distress, and restitution in favor of the plaintiff in default. Some materials are eliminated entirely. These include the materials on the non-enforceability of donative promises, past consideration, third party beneficiaries, and assignment. As with the basic edition, the concise edition retains rich, full-bodied versions of the principal cases, a functionalist approach to the problems of contract law, and analytical notes on such issues as the differences between classical contract law and modern contract law. The new edition includes new materials on interpretation, unilateral mistake, race in contract law, and consumer form contracts.

Genres: Law

863 pages, Hardcover

Published July 25, 2023

About the author

Lon Luvois Fuller was a noted legal philosopher, who wrote The Morality of Law in 1964, discussing the connection between law and morality. Fuller was professor of Law at Harvard University for many years, and is noted in American law for his contributions to the law of contracts. His debate with H. L. A. Hart in the Harvard Law Review (Vol. 71) was of significant importance for framing the modern conflict between legal positivism and natural law. Fuller was an important influence on Ronald Dworkin, who was one of his students at Harvard Law.