ABSTRACT
I raise three questions in this chapter. Are there good reasons to be philosophically interested in contract law? How far does the philosophy of contract law extend? And can it have a significant bearing on legal doctrine? In answer to the first question, I argue that certain features of contract law which may make it seem less philosophically interesting than (certain) other legal domains in fact render it philosophically interesting in a unique way, and its philosophical study indispensable for broader, key philosophical queries in both general jurisprudence and in moral and political thought. I answer the second and third questions concurrently, arguing that the view according to which philosophical theory of contract law does not have a meaningful bearing on legal doctrine is informed by an overly narrow idea of the range of inquiries such a theory must encompass.
Kimel, Dori, On the Point, Scope and Utility of the Philosophy of Contract (February 1, 2023) in Chen-Wishart and Saprai (eds), Research Handbook on the Philosophy of Contract Law (Forthcoming).
Leave a Reply