Understanding Private Law

Evan Fox-Decent holds the Canada Research Chair in Cosmopolitan Law and Justice at the Faculty of Law, McGill University, Canada.John C. P. Goldberg is Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School, USA.Lionel Smith is Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford, UK.

• Foreword, Shauna Van PraaghList of Contributors Introduction, Evan Fox-Decent, John CP Goldberg, Lionel SmithPart One: Methodology1. Mapmaking and Law’s Legitimacy, Larissa Katz2. The Elegance of Private Law, Andrew Gold3. Comparative Legal Scholarship: Anything but Ordinary, Rosalie Jukier4. Two Genres of Interpretive Legal Theories, Hanoch Dagan5. “Comparative Law” as an Academic Discipline, Helge DedekPart Two: Remedies6. Continuity and Creativity in the Law of Remedies, Arthur Ripstein7. The Moral Authority of Rulings, Evan Fox-Decent8. The Continuity Thesis: The Gift that Fails to Keep on Giving, James Penner9. Monstrans de droit, Petition of Right, and Liability for Crown Debt, Joshua Getzler 10. Trusts as Remedies, Robert Chambers11. Remedial Restitutionary Rights?, Bill SwadlingPart Three: Contract12. The Scope of Restraint of Trade, Robert Stevens13. What Might Contract Theory Be?, Gregory Klass14. Rights, Wrongs, Injustices and the Three Strata of Contract Law, Mark Gergen15. Conceptualizing the Law of Contractual Modifications: A Different Framework, Peter Benson16. Applying Smith to the Practice of Contract Remedies, Adam Kramer KC17. In Defence of Smith’s “In Defence of the Third-Party Rule”, Jason W NeyersPart Four: Law’s Normativity18. Trying and Succeeding, John CP Goldberg & Benjamin C. Zipursky19. The Unknowability Objection, Dennis Klimchuk20. Must We Know What We Owe?, Frederick Wilmot-Smith21. The Cough Drops on Loyalty, Lionel Smith22. Free-standing Liabilities, Nicholas J McBride23. Is Private Law Normatively Distinctive?, Paul B MillerList of Publications of Stephen A. Smith, 1994-2022

Smith did have a distinctive way of understanding law, and an equally distinctive idea of private law. And if, despite the careful and sustained attention in this book, they sometimes resist easy analysis, that is also testament to their distinctiveness. It should be read by all wishing to join in this great celebration of a great scholar, but particularly by those interested in legal methodology and private law adjudication.