Total run time:
32m
What kinds of agreements are covered by the law of contracts? Professor Richard Epstein of NYU School of Law gives a basic definition, then goes through a variety of transactions, from simple to complex, where contracts with increasing degrees of formality are used. What role do contracts play in the greater social order? What net benefits do they have? Watch to learn more.
Do mass contracts lead to exploitation?
A landmark article by Friedrich Kessler, "The Contracts of Adhesion--Some Thoughts about Freedom of Contract Role of Compulsion in Economic Transactions" (Columbia Law Review in 1943), argues that they do, a
...
Do mass contracts lead to exploitation?
A landmark article by Friedrich Kessler, "The Contracts of Adhesion--Some Thoughts about Freedom of Contract Role of Compulsion in Economic Transactions" (Columbia Law Review in 1943), argues that they do, and many contracts professors today agree with him.
Professor Richard Epstein of NYU School of Law, however, disagrees. He argues that they are more efficient, that people who don’t like the terms of a mass contract can simply go to a competitor, and that they almost alway provide a form of remedy. Standard contracts provide a way for people who might not be secure in their own knowledge to rely on others who are more informed.
Professor Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.
As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.
Subscribe to the series’ playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwcngsYgoUX3i5tMPI9kDQtoLuOXCsN_
RELATED LINKS
Friedrich Kessler, The Contracts of Adhesion--Some Thoughts about Freedom of Contract Role of Compulsion in Economic Transactions https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwcngsYgoUX3i5tMPI9kDQtoLuOXCsN_
Richard Epstein: The Neoclassical Economics of Consumer Contracts
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwcngsYgoUX3i5tMPI9kDQtoLuOXCsN_
Exploitation, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwcngsYgoUX3i5tMPI9kDQtoLuOXCsN_
George Gluck, Standard Form Contracts: The Contract Theory Reconsidered https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwcngsYgoUX3i5tMPI9kDQtoLuOXCsN_
Total run time:
32m
Course:
Total videos:
11
Difficulty:
Elective
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