Charles Fried is the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard University Law School. He is a former Solicitor General of the United States and a former Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He has published widely across private law and the intersections of law, morality and politics.

• Preface to the First Edition ; Preface to the Second Edition ; 1 ; Introduction: The Life of Contract ; 2 ; Contract as Promise ; Promise ; The Moral Obligation of Promise ; What a Promise is Worth ; Remedies in and around the Promise ; 3 ; Consideration ; 4 ; Answering a Promise: Offer and Acceptance ; Promises and Vows ; Acceptance and the Law of Third-Party Beneficiaries ; The Simple Circuitry of Offer and Acceptance ; Rejections, Counteroffers, Contracts at a Distance, Crossed Offers ; Reliance on an Offer ; 5 ; Gaps ; Mistake, Frustration, and Impossibility ; Letting the Loss Lie Where It Falls ; Parallels with General Legal Theory: An Excursion ; Filling the Gaps ; 6 ; Good Faith ; "Honesty in Fact" ; Good Faith in Performance ; 7 ; Duress and Unconscionability ; Duress ; Coercion and Rights ; Property ; Hard Bargains ; Unconscionability, Economic Duress, and Social Justice ; Bad Samaritans ; 8 ; The Importance of Being Right ; You Can Always Get Your Money Back ; Conditions ; Waivers, Forfeitures, Repudiations ; Contract as Promise in the Light of Subsequent Scholarship-Especially Law and Economics ; Notes ; Index

Contract as Promise is a landmark in legal thought. Now in its Second Edition, this classic text remains as engaging today as when first published; and a new postscript deftly connects the book's enduring themes to subsequent developments in law and legal theory." Daniel Markovits, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Charles Fried is the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard University Law School. He is a former Solicitor General of the United States and a former Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He has published widely across private law and the intersections of law, morality and politics.

• Preface to the First Edition ; Preface to the Second Edition ; 1 ; Introduction: The Life of Contract ; 2 ; Contract as Promise ; Promise ; The Moral Obligation of Promise ; What a Promise is Worth ; Remedies in and around the Promise ; 3 ; Consideration ; 4 ; Answering a Promise: Offer and Acceptance ; Promises and Vows ; Acceptance and the Law of Third-Party Beneficiaries ; The Simple Circuitry of Offer and Acceptance ; Rejections, Counteroffers, Contracts at a Distance, Crossed Offers ; Reliance on an Offer ; 5 ; Gaps ; Mistake, Frustration, and Impossibility ; Letting the Loss Lie Where It Falls ; Parallels with General Legal Theory: An Excursion ; Filling the Gaps ; 6 ; Good Faith ; "Honesty in Fact" ; Good Faith in Performance ; 7 ; Duress and Unconscionability ; Duress ; Coercion and Rights ; Property ; Hard Bargains ; Unconscionability, Economic Duress, and Social Justice ; Bad Samaritans ; 8 ; The Importance of Being Right ; You Can Always Get Your Money Back ; Conditions ; Waivers, Forfeitures, Repudiations ; Contract as Promise in the Light of Subsequent Scholarship-Especially Law and Economics ; Notes ; Index

Contract as Promise is a landmark in legal thought. Now in its Second Edition, this classic text remains as engaging today as when first published; and a new postscript deftly connects the book's enduring themes to subsequent developments in law and legal theory." Daniel Markovits, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Charles Fried is the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard University Law School. He is a former Solicitor General of the United States and a former Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He has published widely across private law and the intersections of law, morality and politics.

• Preface to the First Edition ; Preface to the Second Edition ; 1 ; Introduction: The Life of Contract ; 2 ; Contract as Promise ; Promise ; The Moral Obligation of Promise ; What a Promise is Worth ; Remedies in and around the Promise ; 3 ; Consideration ; 4 ; Answering a Promise: Offer and Acceptance ; Promises and Vows ; Acceptance and the Law of Third-Party Beneficiaries ; The Simple Circuitry of Offer and Acceptance ; Rejections, Counteroffers, Contracts at a Distance, Crossed Offers ; Reliance on an Offer ; 5 ; Gaps ; Mistake, Frustration, and Impossibility ; Letting the Loss Lie Where It Falls ; Parallels with General Legal Theory: An Excursion ; Filling the Gaps ; 6 ; Good Faith ; "Honesty in Fact" ; Good Faith in Performance ; 7 ; Duress and Unconscionability ; Duress ; Coercion and Rights ; Property ; Hard Bargains ; Unconscionability, Economic Duress, and Social Justice ; Bad Samaritans ; 8 ; The Importance of Being Right ; You Can Always Get Your Money Back ; Conditions ; Waivers, Forfeitures, Repudiations ; Contract as Promise in the Light of Subsequent Scholarship-Especially Law and Economics ; Notes ; Index

Contract as Promise is a landmark in legal thought. Now in its Second Edition, this classic text remains as engaging today as when first published; and a new postscript deftly connects the book's enduring themes to subsequent developments in law and legal theory." Daniel Markovits, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, Yale Law School