From Promise to ContractPDF电子书下载

Introduction 1

1. On the Nature and Value of Promises 7

Fried’s Argument: Convention, Social Practice, Trust 8

Trust as a Condition 14

Why Promise? 20

Why Want a Promise? 21

What is Wrong with Breaking a Promise? 22

The Value of Promise 27

Promises between Strangers 29

2. Normativity, Trust and Threats 33

Ⅰ. The Disjunctive View 33

Threats and Expressive Reasons 37

Threats and Trust 39

The Willingness to Assume the Risk of Disobedience 46

Threats and Exclusionary Reasons 49

Ⅱ. Normativity and Threats in Personal Relations 51

Coercive and Non-Coercive Threats 51

From Threats to Enforceability 54

3. The Nature and Value of Contractual Relations 57

Ⅰ. Contracts and the Role of Trust 57

Enforceability and the Trivialisation of the Role of Trust 57

Trust and the True Nature of the Practice 61

Preview 65

Ⅱ. Contracts, Promises and Special Relations 65

What is Special in Special Relations? 66

Contracts, Promises and Special Relations 72

The Intrinsic Value of Contracts 78

Personal Detachment and Relational Contracts 80

Preview 86

4. Remedies 89

The Standard Remedy and the Theory of the Practice 89

Choosing a Performance Remedy: Why Not Specific Performance? 95

The Harm Principle and Remedies for Breach 100

Mitigation 109

The Freedom to Change One’s Mind 112

5. Freedom of Contract, Freedom from Contract 117

Ⅰ. Freedom of Contract 117

Neutrality 121

Neutrality, Fairness and Inequality of Bargaining Power 122

The Possibility of Neutrality 123

Personal Autonomy 126

Preliminaries 127

Autonomy-Derived Value as a Matter of Degree 128

Respect for Autonomy as Ground for Restricting Freedom 129

The Value of Autonomy and the Pursuit of the Good 131

Autonomy, Contract and Promise 133

Conclusion 135

Ⅱ. Freedom from Contract 135

Intention to Create Legal Relations 136

Bibliography 143

Index 147