Private Law Theory

Dori Kimel, Promise, Contract, Personal Autonomy, and the Freedom to Change One’s Mind, in Philosophical Foundations of Contract Law 96 (Klass, Letsas and Saprai eds, 2015). For philosophers of private law, a central puzzle is to explain how people’s voluntary acts of promising and contracting can produce genuine obligations. One popular class of answers points to personal autonomy – or the capacity, real or hypothetical, to bind one’s will through free acts of self-legislation. For those who believe in personal autonomy and its value, there may seem to be relatively few puzzles about promise or contract. Indeed, promise and contract might seem to offer easy cases. These initial impressions can, however, be misleading … (more)

[Robin Kar, JOTWELL, 13 June]

First posted 2016-06-13 12:22:18