American Contract Law at the Turn of the Century

Authors

Walter Pratt, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1988

Publication Information

39 S. C. L. Rev. 415 (1987-1988)

Abstract

Today, courts are finding agreements to be a contract that historically would have been found to be unenforceable. During the past century, when America became a modern urban society, contract law has underwent a major transformation. Economic expansion led to a new contracting practice of reduced specificity in the terms of the agreements. The judges recognized that the doctrines of the past were no longer adequate for the new commercial world, and modified the court doctrines to embrace this greater uncertainty in terms. This Article looks to the emergence of the doctrine of ‘good faith’ as the key to understanding the major transformation in contract law during the period of 1870-1920 through the case of Wood v. Lucy Lady Duff Gordon.

Recommended Citation

Walter Pratt, American Contract Law at the Turn of the Century, 39 S. C. L. Rev. 415 (1987-1988).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/594