"Cases and Materials on Contracts: Making and Doing Deals" authored by David G. Epstein, Bruce A. Markell, and Lawrence Ponoroff, published by West Academic Publishing, offers a comprehensive exploration of contract law in an engaging manner. The book is part of the American Casebook Series and is designed to be both educational for students and enjoyable for instructors.
The authors emphasize the practical relevance of contract law, ensuring that students not only grasp the foundational principles but also understand how these principles apply to real-world scenarios they may encounter in their legal careers. Through cases, problems, and explanatory text, students are equipped with the necessary knowledge to navigate contractual issues long after they graduate.
The book delves into various sources of contract law, including the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), common law, and the Restatement. It highlights the purpose of the UCC in simplifying, clarifying, and modernizing commercial transactions, with a particular focus on contracts for the sale of goods. Additionally, it explains the role of common law and precedent, allowing students to understand the importance of distinguishing cases and precedent.
One of the central themes explored is the freedom to contract, emphasizing the equitable, consistent, and predictable nature of contract law within a free market economy. The authors discuss the concept of mutual assent, emphasizing the elements required to prove the existence of a contract, such as offer, acceptance, consideration, specification of essential terms, and mutual assent.
Through cases like Lucy v. Zehmer, the book illustrates the objective standard of assent, emphasizing that mutual assent is determined by external acts and manifestations rather than subjective intentions. It prompts students to consider whether a reasonable person in the position of the promisee would understand the promisor's intent to be bound and whether the promisee genuinely believed in the promisor's intent.