Contracts: Cases, Text, and Problems

Contracts: Cases, Text, and Problems provides a student-friendly combination of introductory explanations, cases and statutes, and numerous exercises. The content and organization of the second edition is designed to maximize each student's comprehension and development of analytic skills. Charts and diagrams provide additional guidance to visual learners. This casebook introduces students to contract law and legal method in an engaging, accessible manner that mirrors the way an associate would analyze a problem in a law office: Hornbook-style text and excerpts from scholarly articles present an overview to each topic by providing context and perspectives in preparation for examining primary law; Carefully selected cases and statutes invite more focused exploration of each legal topic; and Numerous exercises and two dozen full-length essay examination questions provide students with the opportunity to apply the law to new facts, leading to a deep, working knowledge of the material. Chapter 1 introduces the course with an overview of sources of contract law, a few words about legal method, and an exercise that invites the class to simulate various types of exchanges and to identify the interests that could be protected by contract law. The Teacher's Manual includes an analysis of each of the numerous exercises in the book, which facilitate faculty-led discussion of the exercises in class. Appendix 3 of the Casebook sets forth model answers to all of the practice essay examinations, enabling students to take those exams on their own and compare their answers to the model answers. The text, article excerpts, cases, and exercises occasionally touch upon legal history, comparative law, international law, economic analysis, and professional responsibility in order to better help students place the contracts material in a broader context. The exercises include several drafting problems, and one case reveals an overlap between contract law and civil rights law (liability for racial discrimination in contracting under 42 U.S.C. § 1981). Several cases and exercises explore questions of litigation and civil procedure, including standards of appellate review and the ability to create a triable issue of fact and escape summary judgment by offering admissible parol evidence. The second edition combines classic cases, such as the Carbolic Smoke Ball case, with more recent cases, including many published within the previous decade. It is updated through 2019, and includes the Supreme Court's embrace of disgorgement of profits in an interstate-compact case, exploration of problems associated with electronic contracting, coverage of California's Right to Repair Act, and an updated discussion of the Federal Arbitration Act's preemption of state law defenses to class actions waivers in arbitration clauses.