Title: Calculating promises : the emergence of modern American contract doctrine /
Authors: Kreitner, Roy
Publisher: Stanford University Press,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Contracts United States History.; Promise (Law) United States History.
Abstract: "Calculating Promises examines the history of American contract law around the turn of the twentieth century. It meticulously details shifts in our conception of contract by juxtaposing scholarly accounts of contract with case law, and shows how the cases exhibit conflicts for which scholarship offers just one of many possible answers."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: pt. I. Gifts and promises revisited. The revolution in consideration doctrine ; The gift from beyond the grave: case law ; Responding to revolution: moving gifts and consideration through the twentieth century ; Speculating on gifts and promises -- pt. II. Speculations of contract. Distinguished gambles: the struggle to separate speculation and insurance from gambling ; "Contracts" for "futures": Commercial speculation and the gambling stigma ; Wagering in lives: the life insurance speculators ; Acquistive individuality vs. communal efficiency: conflicting policies and the love-hate relationship with risk -- pt. III. The narratives of incomplete contracts. Framing incomplete contracts ; The use and abuse of historical narrative: debates over incomplete contracts ; Evaluating the frame of incompleteness discourse.