Implicit Dimensions of Contract: Discrete, Relational, and Network Contracts

International Studies in the Theory of Private Law

by David Campbell (Editor), Hugh Collins (Editor), John Wightman (Editor)

This collection of essays, derived from an international workshop, explores the significance of implicit understandings and tacit expectations of the parties to different kinds of contractual agreements, ranging from simple discrete transactions to long-term associational agreements such as those formed in companies. An interdisciplinary and comparative approach is used to investigate how the law comprehends and gives effect to the these implicit dimensions of contracts. The significance of this enquiry is found not only in relation to the interpretation of contracts in many different contexts, but more fundamentally in how social practices involved in making contracts should be analysed and comprehended.

396 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2003

About the author

David Campbell is a Professor of Law at Lancaster University. He was educated at Cardiff University, UK (BSc(Econ) 1980), the University of Michigan School of Law, USA (LLM 1985), and the University of Edinburgh, UK (PhD 1985). Since 1985, he has taught at several British universities and in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and the USA. He is now a Professor at the Lancaster University School of Law, UK. Professor Campbell has written extensively on a wide range of legal and social-scientific issues. He is a leading contributor to the law of contract, particularly to 'the relational theory of contract', and to the economic, legal, and social theory of regulation.