A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations

1 Prologue: The Prehistory of the English Law of Obligations Pervasive Ideas Penalties and Entitlements Wrongs: Dishonour and Loss The Economy of Exchange Oaths: Threats and Promises Contracts and Personal Bonds Obligations in Roman Law Delict Contract Quasi-Contract Quasi-Delict 2 Structural Foundations Liability for Wrongdoing: Damage and Dishonour Glanvill and the Law of Debt Covenant and a Law of Contract 3 Unity and Fragmentation of the Mediaeval Law of Contract The Formalization of Covenant Covenant and the Conditional Bond The Fragmentation of Remedies for Informal Contracts 4 Trespass, Trespass on the Case, and the Mediaeval Law of Tort The Core of Trespass: Forcible Wrongdoing Contractual Misperformance and Non-forcible Wrongs The Origins of Trespass on the Case 5 The Substantive Law of Torts Strict Liability and the Role of Fault The Scope of Trespassory Liability 6 The Substantive Law of Contract Voluntariness, Agreement, and the Formation of Contracts The Boundaries of Contract Expectations, Entitlements, and Liability for Breach of Contract Part 2 The Triumph of Trespass on the Case 7 Tort, Property, and Reputation: the Expansion of the Action on the Case Nuisance Trover and Conversion Tort and Reputation: Defamation 8 The Rise of the Action of Assumpsit Trespass on the Case and Contractual Liability Contract and Tort: the Action of Assumpsit Assumpsit and the Theory of Contract The Formal Structure of Contractual Litigation Part 3 The Modern Law of Tort and Contract 9 Trespass, Case, and the Moral Basis of Liability Trespass and Case: the Formal Division The Crystallisation of Neglligence 10 The Law of Torts in the Nineteenth Century: The rise of the Tort of Negligence The Tort of Negligence The Fragmentation of the Law of Tort 11 The Law of Torts in the Twentieth Century: Expansion and Collapse of the Tort of Negligence The Unity of the Tort of Negligence Negligence and its Satellites 12 Foundations of the Modern Law of Contract The Model of Contract The Theory of Contract 13 The Rise of the Will Theory The Will Theory and the Classical Model of Contract The Will Theory and the Model of Exchange 14 The Decline of the Will Theory: Legal Regulation and Contractual Fairness Internal Weakness of the Will Theory Undercutting the Will of the Parties Part 4 Unjust Enrichment 15 Unjust Enrichment Unjust Enrichment before Lord Mansfield Implied Trusts and Implied Contracts Quasi-Contract, Restitution, and Unjust Enrichment 16 Legal Change and Legal Continuity