Revisiting the Contracts Scholarship of Stewart Macaulay

Jean Braucher is Roger C Henderson Professor of Law at the University of Arizona.John Kidwell was, until his death in 2012, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.William C Whitford is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• 'Non-Contractual Relations in Business – A Preliminary Study' (1963) 28 Am Soc Rev 1 Stewart MacaulayExcerpts from 'Private Legislation and the Duty To Read – Business Run by IBM Machine, the Law of Contracts and Credit Cards' (1966) 19 Vanderbilt L Rev 1051 Stewart MacaulayExcerpts from 'The Real Deal and the Paper Deal': Empirical Pictures of Relationships, Complexity and the Urge for Transparent Simple Rules' (2003) 66 Modern L Rev 44 Stewart MacaulayPart I. Relational Contracts and Theory1. Is the World of Contracting Relations One of Spontaneous Order or Pervasive State Action? Stewart Macaulay Scrambles the Public–Private Distinction Robert W Gordon2. Empiricism's Crucial Question and the Transformation of the Legal System Edward Rubin3. The Promise and the Peril of Relational Contract Theory Robert E Scott4. Ambition and Humility in Contract Law Jay M FeinmanPart II. Contractual Relations Between Businesses: Law and Behaviour5. What Do We Mean By the Non-Use of Contract? David Campbell6. Conflict and Collaboration in Business Organisation: A Preliminary Study Li-Wen Lin and Josh Whitford7. What Mistakes Do Lawyers Make in Complex Business Contracts, And What Can and Should be Done About Them? Some Preliminary Thoughts. Claire A Hill8. The Role of Contract: Stewart Macaulay's Lessons from Practice Brian H BixPart III. Contractual Relations with Individuals: Law and Behaviour9. What is the Relational Theory of Consumer Form Contract? Ethan J Leib10. Acquiring Children Contractually: Relational Contracts at Work at Home Carol Sanger11. Is There a 'Duty to Read'? Charles L KnappPart IV. Relational Critiques of Contract Doctrine12. Restitution Without Context: An Examination of the Losing Contract Problem in the Restatement (Third) of Restitution William J Woodward Jr13. Contract in a Pre-Realist World: Professor Macaulay, Lord Hoffmann and the Rise of Context in the English Law of Contract John Wightman14. The Deregulatory Effects of Seventh Circuit Jurisprudence Deborah Waire Post15. Doctrines of Last Resort D Gordon Smith

... a highly recommendable text. The essays commenting on Macaulay’s work go beyond simple reviews. They often present novel, insightful, and sometimes challenging perspectives on the subject that fifty years ago, Macaulay began unpacking. Together these essays capture the arc of not only Macaulay’s scholarship, but also the intellectual tradition that preceded his work and advances that have been built upon it.