Although presented as being derived from the past, principles in contract law have been subject to constant reformulation, thereby facilitating legal change while simultaneously seeming to preclude it. Principle and policy have been mutually interdependent, propositions not usually being called principles unless they have been perceived to lead to just results in particular cases, and as likely to produce results in future cases that accord with common sense, commercial convenience and sound public policy. The influence of policy has been frequent in contract law, but Stephen Waddams argues that an unmediated appeal to non-legal sources of policy has been constrained by the need to formulate generalised propositions recognised as legal principles. This interrelation of principle and policy has played an important role in enabling an uncodified system to hold a middle course between a rigid formalism on the one hand and an unconstrained instrumentalism on the other.

Waddams argues that principle and policy, rather than being opposed, have been closely interrelated, each giving shape to the other.

About the Author
Stephen Waddams is University Professor and the holder of the Goodman/Schipper Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.

Reviews
"Principle and Policy is full of elegant and effective historical analysis and has much to offer anyone wanting a better understanding of the development of contract doctrine." -Charlie Webb, London School of Economics and Political Science, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LAW JOURNAL



Book Information
ISBN 9780521196147
Author Stephen Waddams
Format Hardback
Page Count 266
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 550g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 17mm