They also unify contract law, tort law and the law on restitution into one branch of law, called 'law of obligations'. American lawyers would have a hard time trying to find their way in such a system. Therefore we decided to elaborate a new, detailed classification system, inspired by both legal theory and law and economics insights. A correct classification system can improve analyses by suggesting what kind of models are to be applied. Medical malpractice, for instance, is considered by Anglo-American rules as a branch of tort law.
Marriage law is according to many legal systems a part of 'family law'.
Again, it is better to see it as the regulation of a specific contract. Modern economic scholarship on marriage law tries to apply the models on optimal contract remedies to the problem of unstable marriages. A massive undertaking requires the help of an enormous amount of people. We would like to thank, first of all, the members of the editorial board and the the board of referees. Second, we owe a lot to the publisher, Edward Elgar, and his staff - especially to Dymphna Evans for supporting the project in many ways.