Contracts

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Contracts: Cases and Doctrine features a mix of lightly-edited classic and contemporary cases that stress current contract doctrine along with the essential lawyering skill of case analysis—how to sift through the facts of the case to discern the prevailing rules and theory. Randy Barnett and Nate Oman’s innovative text introduces each case and provides the historical background of the iconic cases that make the study of contract law engaging. Study Guide questions help students identify salient issues as they read each case. Judicial biographies of each judge provide additional context.

The 8th Edition has been streamlined and edited to delete materials that are rarely covered in a 1L class. This edition includes new cases that have been chosen for their topicality, facts, or pedagogical usefulness. Areas covered include so-called “smart contracts” and the relationship between restitution and contract. As always, the authors focus on cases with facts that will be easier to teach. New cases in this edition include litigation between Ukraine and Russia over Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, a plea bargaining deal gone wrong, what happens when an employee signs a boilerplate arbitration contract “No Rejected,” and a dispute over whether spiders are insects.

New to the 8th Edition:
In order to keep the size of the book manageable, the authors have simplified its structure by condensing some of the more theoretical material on enforceability. The chapters on Principles of Enforceability and Intention to be Legally Bound have been deleted entirely, and highly truncated portions of the materials from these chapters have been added to the chapters on The Doctrine of Consideration and The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel.

New cases include:
• In re IBP Inc. Shareholders Litigation (specific performance of a merger agreement involving personal services)
• Bjorkman v. Arctic Cat, Inc. (modern application of the rule in Dickinson v. Dodds)
• Ragland v. IEC US Holdings, Inc. (a new employee signed a boilerplate arbitration contract “No Rejected”)
• Rios v. State of Maryland (confused bargaining over a plea bargaining agreement)
• Robinson v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (What is a spider? An example of neo-textualist interpretation)
• Law Debenture Trust Corp. Plc. v. Ukraine (litigation between two countries – Russia and Ukraine – in the courts of a third country, England)
• Martinez-Gonzalez v. Elkhorn Packing Co. LLC (duress in an employment contract involving a migrant worker)

Professors and student will benefit from:
• Case-based approach gives students ample doctrinal materials to sift through for facts and analyze for prevailing rules and theory.
• Cases are lightly edited, or presented as whole as possible, to give first-year students the opportunity to develop case-analysis skills.
• Restatement and UCC sections are integrated to encourage students to consult them as they read the cases.
• Iconic and contemporary cases are combined to show how the classic cases are still relevant.
• Each chapter begins with a brief, accessible textual introduction.
• Study Guide questions before each case help focus student attention on salient issues.
• Flexible organization begins with Remedies, but chapters can be taught in any order.