Andrew Hutchison – författare

International scholars, from a range of jurisdictions and legal cultures across Africa, North America and Europe, dissect a plethora of contract types, including sale, insurance, shipping, credit, negotiable instruments and agency, against the backdrop of key legal regimes commonly chosen in international agreements. These include: the UN CISG, Unidroit PICC, European DCFR and English law. The Research Handbook examines key general principles in commercial contract law, such as interpretation, good faith, remedies for breach and choice of law clauses from an international perspective. It also engages with various emerging aspects of internet contracting, including smart contracts.

Scholars and researchers working in the field of contract law, and international commercial contracts more specifically, will find this Research Handbook to be an indispensable guide. Practitioners seeking clear guidance will also benefit from its detailed coverage of specific research questions.

This second volume on the constitutional dimension of contract law explores this increasingly relevant subject in jurisdictions that are usually overlooked by mainstream scholarship in the English-speaking world. With chapters on Finland and other Nordic Countries from a comparative perspective, Spain, Japan, Somalia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Peru, the contributions presented here offer much-needed, context-informed insights on whether – and if so, why, how and to what extent – the development of contract law is being influenced by constitutional values and fundamental rights issues (or vice-versa). 

The book represents a valuable addition to comparative law literature on the interplay between public (i.e., constitutional) and private (i.e., contract) law by revealing the inner dynamics through which these two branches interact and (at times) inform each other, whilst also enhancing our understanding of the law’s nature, function, and transformative potential at the macro, meso, and micro levels.

One of the hallmarks of the present era is the discourse surrounding Human Rights and the need for the law to recognise them. Various national and supranational human rights instruments have been developed and implemented in order to transition society away from atrocity and callousness toward a more just and inclusive future. In some countries this is done by means of an overarching constitution, while in others international conventions or ordinary legislation hold sway.

Contract law plays a pivotal role in this context. According to many, this is done through the much-debated ‘civilising mission’ of the contract, a notion which itself constitutes the canon of the Western liberal principle of ‘civilised economy’. The movement away from the belief in the absolute freedom of contract, which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century, to the principles of fairness and justice that underpin contract law today, is often deemed to be a testament to this civilising influence. 

Delving into the interplay between human rights policies, constitutional law, and contract law from both theoretical and practical perspectives, this first volume of a two-book collection offers a totally new reappraisal of the subject by gathering a collection of essays written by contract law scholars from Europe, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Instead of providing the reader with a sterile compilation of positivistic norms and policies on the impact of fundamental rights and constitutional law issues on contract law’s development, the authors build on their personal experience to analyse specific topics related to contracting that include a constitutional dimension. The book fills an important void in comparative law scholarship and in so doing represents the starting point for further debate on the subject.