Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
1999
Abstract
This essay is a review of The Richness of Contract Law: An Analysis and Critique of Conemporary Theories of Contract Law by Robert A. Hillman (1997).
Throughout the book, Hillman offers a number of useful insights about various issues of contract law and theory--as he has in his numerous law review articles--but in this review the author is concerned with his overall theme: a general skepticism about "unifying" or "highly abstract" contract theories that fail to mirror the richness of contract law. In this regard, Hillman stands in the "realist" tradition of the previous generation of contracts scholars. Hillman attempts to justify this stance by examining a number of doctrinal contexts: contract formation, unconscionability, and good faith. Hillman considers a variety of theoretical approaches: promise theorists, reliance theorists, feminist theorists, efficiency theorists, relational theorists, and critical legal scholars.
Publication Citation
97 Mich. L. Rev. 1413-1429 (1999) (reviewing Robert A. Hillman, THE RICHNESS OF CONTRACT LAW: AN ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE OF CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF CONTRACT LAW (1997))
Scholarly Commons Citation
Barnett, Randy E., "The Richness of Contract Theory" (1999). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 1270.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1270