Government frequently responds to crises (like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina) with laws that have retrospective effects on existing contracts. Because these laws are usually constitutional, the promisee has no claim against the government. The promisor, however, will probably obtain an excuse from the contract because performance is now either illegal or impaired by government acts or orders. The promisor is in what can be called "the Zone of Coercion"; If excuse is granted, the contract is discharged but the promisee, because of limited remedies, will not be restored to its pre-contract position. Thus, the promisee's contract rights are casualties in what amounts to a constitutional taking by the government. This book traces and critiques the development from 19th-century England to the present of excuse doctrine and its application by courts in "the Zone"; The development of more general contract excuse doctrine and different theories about excuse - such as economic analysis and behavioral decision theory - are also traced in both private and public contracts.
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Speidel's [book] is a prescient and relevant text, which provides a unique legal perspective on contractual defenses and which has particular applicability to the contractual fallout that will inevitably occur after the proposed governmental 'resolution' of the Wall Street debacle....In its entirety, the text provides an informative perspective on these concentrated issues of the intersection of private contract law and public law in times of crisis. --Law & Politics Book Review, October 2008
About the Author
Richard Speidel is a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law.
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legal transitions, bounded rationality, burner tip, gold clause, contract excuse doctrine, retrospective illegality, subsequent government act, public law defenses, agreed impracticable, party seeking excuse, sovereign acts defense, party claiming excuse, supervening prohibition, impracticability defense, basic assumption test, granting excuse, private contract law, performance impracticable, impracticability doctrine, frustration doctrine, retrospective act, supervening illegality, discharged contract, subsequent illegality, reliance expenditures Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Suez Canal, Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, New York, Fifth Amendment, First Restatement, Joint Resolution, Mobil Oil Exploration, Uniform Commercial Code, Second Restatement, Samuel Williston, Law of Contracts, Gulf Coast, American Law Institute, Hurricane Katrina, New Deal, Russell Korobkin, Louisiana Power, Royal Norwegian Government, Atlas Corp, Impossibility of Performance, Cape of Good Hope, Legal Stud, Douglas Corp Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
legal transitions, bounded rationality, burner tip, gold clause, contract excuse doctrine, retrospective illegality, subsequent government act, public law defenses, agreed impracticable, party seeking excuse, sovereign acts defense, party claiming excuse, supervening prohibition, impracticability defense, basic assumption test, granting excuse, private contract law, performance impracticable, impracticability doctrine, frustration doctrine, retrospective act, supervening illegality, discharged contract, subsequent illegality, reliance expenditures Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Suez Canal, Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, New York, Fifth Amendment, First Restatement, Joint Resolution, Mobil Oil Exploration, Uniform Commercial Code, Second Restatement, Samuel Williston, Law of Contracts, Gulf Coast, American Law Institute, Hurricane Katrina, New Deal, Russell Korobkin, Louisiana Power, Royal Norwegian Government, Atlas Corp, Impossibility of Performance, Cape of Good Hope, Legal Stud, Douglas Corp Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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