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