Alan Schwartz
Contract Interpretation Redux
119 Yale L.J. 926 (2010). Contract interpretation remains the largest single source of contract litigation between business firms. In part this is because contract interpretation issues are difficult, but it also reflects a deep divide between textualist and contextualist theories of interpretation. While a strong majority of U.S. courts continue to follow the traditional, “formalist” approach to contract interpretation, some...
Contract Theory and the Limits of Contract Law
113 Yale L.J. 541 (2003) This Article sets out a normative theory to guide decisionmakers in the regulation of contracts between firms. Commercial law for centuries has drawn a distinction between mercantile contracts and others, but modern scholars have not systematically pursued the normative implications of this distinction. We attempt to cure this neglect by setting out the theoretical foundations...