Contracts

Catalog description

Contracts is your introduction to the law of voluntary transactions. How do we make enforceable promises? How do we interpret them? When and how can they be undone or excused? If they are broken without lawful excuse, what till the law do about it? Most of the law about ordinary contracts is Common Law – the accumulated and evolving mass of decisions by courts in England and the U.S. There are also important types of contracts controlled by the Uniform Commercial Code, adopted in nearly identical form by the legislatures of each of the states. We will study both the common law and Article 2 of the Commercial Code which governs contracts for the sale of goods. Other things go on in a Contracts class. With trivial exceptions, contracts are made of words. Care in using and interpreting words is vital for lawyers. Contract-making also requires anticipating and providing for contingencies. The course is as much about developing professional habits of thought as it is about rules and vocabulary. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.