Category Archives: Contract
McTigue and Slawe, ‘Private Power, Public Harm: The Coercive Dynamics of Mass Arbitration’
Arbitration plays a vital role in offering consumers and employees an efficient forum for resolving disputes, especially as courts face growing constraints. However, the rise of abusive mass arbitrations aimed at extracting settlements – regardless of whether the claims asserted have any merit—distorts this system, harming businesses, consumers, and employees alike … (more, download) Michael […]
Enrico Baffi, ‘Public Standard Contract as Benchmark and Informed Opt-Out’
ABSTRACT This article proposes a market design mechanism for standard contracts in relationhips between firms and consumers, based on the preparation, by a public authority, of a sectoral standard contract intended to serve as a benchmark. The standard is constructed in such a way as to maximize the expected surplus for the majority of consumers, […]
José Antonio Sánchez Rubín, ‘Distributive foundations of contract law – A reappraisal’
ABSTRACT In contemporary scholarship, most proposals that refer to the moral foundations of contract law can be categorized under one of two broad conceptual categories: deontological (such as will, autonomy-based, and transference theories) and consequentialist (such as those rooted in efficiency and distributive justice considerations) theories. However, these conceptions are insufficient for adequately explaining and […]
Lai, Lin and Ding, ‘Walking the Tightrope: Contract Enforcement and Self-policing under AML Regulation in China’s Stablecoin OTC Market’
ABSTRACT How are contracts enforced and criminal liability avoided in China’s extralegal stablecoin over-the-counter exchange market, given that legal protection is weak and anti-moneylaundering regulation strictly enforced? With formal fiat-to-stablecoin on-ramps prohibited, this market has faced pervasive market opportunism and heightened legal exposure since China’s 2020 regulatory crackdown. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews and 536 […]
Bianca Scraback, ‘The international element requirement for consumer contract jurisdiction in the Brussels Ia Regulation’
ABSTRACT Whether or not local jurisdiction in consumer contract cases is regulated in the EU by the Brussels Ia Regulation or domestic rules on jurisdiction hinges on the existence of a relevant international element. Even determining the relevance of international elements using a rules-based approach and despite two decisions of the CJEU, the paper argues […]
Mallet, Nassar, Fadli and Abdulhay, ‘Between Autonomy and Protection: A Critical Assessment of Exclusion Clauses in Tort Law Under the French Draft Civil Liability Reform’
ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the proposed reform of non-contractual civil liability in French law, with a particular focus on the validity of liability-exclusion and limitation clauses. While the draft legislation (2019-2020) marks a significant shift by recognizing the general validity of such clauses under Article 1284, it simultaneously imposes strict limitations, rendering them void […]
Dari-Mattiacci, Onderstal, Parisi and Singh, ‘The Value of Silence: Optimal Disclosure Default Rules in Contract Law’
ABSTRACT Sellers are generally required to disclose ‘negative’ information about hidden defects of the products they sell. By contrast, buyers are generally under no comparable duties to disclose ‘positive’ information about hidden qualities of the products they buy. The leading explanation for the law’s disparate treatment of buyers and sellers is that imposing disclosure duties […]
Greg Bowley, ‘The Public Limits of Private Justice: An Account of the Doctrine of Public Policy in Contract’
ABSTRACT The common law doctrine of public policy remains poorly defined. It has been invoked to produce outcomes distinct from what conventional doctrine would require, but no consensus exists as to the purposes it serves, the factors justifying its intervention, or even the manner of its operation. This paper argues that the best understanding of […]
Christopher Chao-hung Chen, ‘Regulating Consumer Contracts with Government-made Templates: An Examination of Taiwan’s Approach to Boilerplate Forms’
ABSTRACT This article examines Taiwan’s approach of using government-issued contractual templates to regulate unfair terms in standard forms for consumer transactions. This article studies user agreements from a sample of two different types of electronic payment service providers (PSPs) in Taiwan, one operating under a more stringent regulatory framework and the other subject to lighter […]
Shreya Makki Sudheer, ‘Enforceability of Formula 1 Driver Contracts’
ABSTRACT The sport of Formula 1 (F1) is governed by a web of contracts, with arguably the most significant being that between a driver and the team they represent. The contractual framework governing the Formula 1 drivers is extremely complex, spanning from performance-related clauses to intellectual property protection and image rights. This paper examines the […]