Category Archives: Contract
Twigg-Flesner and Howells, ‘Adapting Consumer Law to New Technologies’
ABSTRACT The task for this chapter is to examine how well consumer law is able to adapt to the use of new technologies in consumer-focused applications. Our central thesis is that a methodical approach is needed, comprising several steps and admitting different responses to different technological developments. The context for our discussion will be applications […]
Christian Twigg-Flesner, ‘Contract Automation – Is Functional Equivalence Enough?’
ABSTRACT Many provisions of Transnational Commercial Law dealing with the digital commerce seek to extend the application of existing measures to the digital realm by deploying the functional equivalence principle. This principle is used to identify how legal rules developed in the context of physical transacting can be applied in the digital context, and thus […]
Ivy Tengge Xu, ‘Contractual Interpretation of the Standard of Review in International Commercial Arbitrations’
ABSTRACT The judicial review of arbitral awards bears an intuitive similarity to the review of administrative decisions. Despite their reluctance, Canadian courts have long used administrative law concepts and statutory interpretation to determine the standard of review when an arbitral award is challenged in court. This paper considers a novel alternative: contractual interpretation of the […]
Jay Feinman, ‘Recapturing Relational Contract Theory’
ABSTRACT Relational contract theory is central to our understanding of contract law. One of the principal innovations in contracts scholarship in the twentieth century, relational contract theory has developed diverse approaches in the literature of law, business, sociology, and other academic fields and in the courts. Robert Scott’s observation in 2000 is even more true […]
Andrew Keane Woods, ‘The New Social Contracts’
ABSTRACT Contracts rule our digital world. Platform terms of service determine speech rights, privacy rights, and much more. This is no accident – from the very beginning, the US model of internet governance was explicitly built around private ordering. In this context, it is worth asking what contract law and contract scholarship have to say […]
Anna Wong, ‘Duty of Honest Performance: A Tort Dressed in Contract Clothing’
ABSTRACT In CM Callow Inc v Zollinger, the latest installment from the Supreme Court of Canada on the duty of honest performance, the Court insisted that it is a contractual duty rather than a tortious one. This article contends that the duty to act honestly, a welcome addition as it is to the realm of […]
Lilian Edwards, ‘Private Ordering and Generative AI: What Can We Learn from Model Terms and Conditions?’
ABSTRACT Large or ‘foundation’ models, sometimes also described as General Purpose Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), are now being widely used to generate not just text and images but also video, games, music and code from prompts or other inputs. Although this ‘generative AI’ revolution is clearly driving new opportunities for innovation and creativity, it is also […]
Sergio Mittlaender, ‘The Experimental Method in the Study of Contract Law’
ABSTRACT This chapter presents the experimental method and its application to contract law and contract law & economics. With its roots in psychology and its expansion in economics, experiments evolved to identify causal relationships in highly controlled environments, but they are also capable of providing empirical evidence on people’s perceptions, opinions, and reactions when confronted […]
Ayres and Klass, ‘How to Use the New Restatement of Consumer Contracts: A Guide for Judges’
ABSTRACT In the absence of major legislation or regulatory action, US consumers will continue to look to courts and the common law for protection when businesses engage in unfair and deceptive contracting practices. In May 2022, the American Law Association approved the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts. This new Restatement provides a valuable resource […]
Sandeepa Bhat, ‘Contractual Aspects In Private Commercial Space Ventures’
ABSTRACT Contract law has tremendous significance in the modern day commercial space activities. Since international space law developed primarily in the era of state oriented space activities, it has failed to address the manifold legal issues arising out of private commercial space ventures. The much expected national laws to regulate private space activities have also […]