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Part II of The Humanity of Private Law charts a new course for English private law in the twenty-first century. Part I set out the vision of human flourishing that English private law has in mind in seeking to promote its subjects’ flourishing. Part II argues in favour of a very different account of what human flourishing involves, and explains what private law would look like were it to base itself on this alternative vision of the nature of human flourishing. This volume: sets out and evaluates different models of what human flourishing involves;argues in favour of the view that human flourishing involves being engaged in a quest to lead a truthful life;explains in what ways a private law that sought to foster this distinctive vision of human flourishing would be different from English private law in its current state, in particular with regard to: (i) tackling fraud; (ii) promoting freedom of speech; (iii) preserving attention capacities; (iv) protecting people from being subjected to degrading or hateful treatment; and (v) enabling people to make a fresh start in their lives; and,considers whether and when it would be legitimate for the courts to transform English private law in the ways suggested in this volume Part II of The Humanity of Private Law is a radical and prophetic book that is essential reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the contribution private law can make to our living in a society that promotes the flourishing of all its members.

Well-functioning contract law is a crucial prerequisite for economic development. However, even though international trade has increased enormously in recent decades, we still know little about the contract enforcement mechanisms that exist in today’s globalised markets. The aim of this work is to shed light on the governance of complex cross-border contracts by developing a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding the relevance of both formal and informal institutions. This framework is then applied to an empirical study of cross-border software development contracts. Combining a unique data set of 41 qualitative expert interviews with statistical data and surveys, the author demonstrates that state contract laws show fundamental signs of dysfunction across borders. Companies engaged in globalised exchange therefore rarely use this mechanism. Even the European Union’s supranational enforcement order is, in practice, insignificant. Against all expectations, international commercial arbitration also turns out to be limited in its ability to provide a workable legal infrastructure for global commerce. With global trade lacking a reliable formal legal order, companies have reacted by creating their own informal governance structures. This book explains how complex exchange in global markets has emerged in the absence of a global legal order.

Enrichment is key to understanding the law of unjust enrichment and restitution. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the concept of enrichment and its implications for restitutionary awards. Dr Lodder argues that enrichment may be characterised either factually or legally, and explores the consequences of that distinction. In factual enrichment cases, the measure of enrichment is the objective value received. This is the basis of many awards of money had and received, quantum meruit, quantum valebat and money paid. In legal enrichment cases, the benefit is the acquisition of a specific right or the release of a specific obligation. The remedy is restitution of that right or reinstatement of that obligation. It is demonstrated that specific restitution of the defendant's legal enrichment is often the basis for resulting trusts, rescission, rectification and subrogation. This book has profound implications for understanding restitutionary awards and the relationship between the enrichment inquiry and other aspects of the law of unjust enrichment, including the ‘at the expense of’ inquiry and the defence of change of position.

The law of personal property covers a very wide spectrum of scenarios and has had little detailed scrutiny of its overarching structure over the years. This is a shame. It is a system and can best be understood as a system. Indeed without understanding it as a system, it becomes much more difficult to understand. The second edition of this acclaimed textbook continues to provide a comprehensive and yet detailed coverage of the law of personal property in England and Wales. It includes transfer of legal title to chattels, the nemo dat rule, negotiable instruments and assignment of choses in action. It also looks at defective transfers of property and the resulting proprietary claims, including those contingent on tracing, the tort of conversion, bailment and security interests. By bringing together areas often scattered throughout company law, commercial law, trusts and tort textbooks, it enables readers to see common themes and issues and to make otherwise impossible generalisations across different contexts about the nature of the concepts English law applies. Throughout the book, concepts are explained rigorously, with reference to how they are used in commercial practice and everyday life. The book will be of use to students on undergraduate commercial law courses, or related LLM courses, as well as those on integrated property law courses, and particularly specialised personal property modules. It will also be useful to academics and practitioners working in the area.

With the New Approach, the EU has incorporated European standardisation in its regulatory approach to improve the free movement of goods. Such a New Approach does not exist for services. Nevertheless, a significant number of European services standards have been made. This book focuses on European standardisation of services and its impact on private law. Two services sectors are analysed: the healthcare sector and the tourism sector. The core chapters of the book contain a number of case studies based on empirical research in these sectors. The first part discusses how European services standards interact with existing legal regulation at the European and national level. It is shown that, at the European level, there is no clear legal framework in which European services standards are adopted. This has an impact on their application in private law, which is the main theme of the second part of the book. Moreover, there is a real risk that European services standards create obstacles to free movement. This will prevent their successful application in private law. Volume 68 in the Series Modern Studies in European Law

This book defends the view that an award of an account of profits (or 'disgorgement damages') for breach of contract will sometimes be justifiable, and fits within the orthodox principles and cases in contract law, and examines the circumstances in which such an award should be made.

The book examines the ambiguous relationship between the European law on unfair commercial practices and contract law. In particular, the manuscript demonstrates that the Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices (‘UCPD’) has had a major impact on contract law, despite the declaration concerning the formal independence between the two branches of law established by Article 3(2) UCPD. The insights and conclusions identified in the book contribute to a better understanding of European private law and the general process of Europeanisation of private law in the European Union, and in particular of contract law. Volume 62 in the Series Modern Studies in European Law

This book defines and explains the operation of the defence of change of position in Anglo-Australian law. It is a widely accepted view that the defence is a modern development, the first express recognition of which can be traced in England to the seminal decision of the House of Lords in Lipkin Gorman (a firm) v Karpnale Ltd. Commentators have accordingly tended to focus on post-Lipkin case law in discussing the defence and its many disputed features. This work takes a different stance, arguing that the defence is best understood by placing it within its broader historical and legal context. It explains that the foundations of the defence can be found in the related doctrines of estoppel by representation, the agent’s defence of payment over and the law of rescission. The analysis applies crucial insights from those areas, together with the change of position authorities and broader considerations of policy and principle, to develop a rigorous model of the change of position defence. The work not only provides a clear and exhaustive examination of the defence, but demonstrates that, properly understood, the defence operates in a rational and justifiable manner within its broader private law context. In so doing, its analysis meets the oft-expressed concern than the defence may operate in an unprincipled way or by reference to ‘that vague jurisprudence which is sometimes attractively styled “justice as between man and man”’.

Rediscovering the Law of Negligence offers a systematic and theoretical exploration of the law of negligence. Its aim is to re-establish the notion that thinking about the law ought to and can proceed on the basis of principle. As such, it is opposed to the prevalent modern view that the various aspects of the law are and must be based on individual policy decisions and that the task of the judge or commentator is to shape the law in terms of the relevant policies as she sees them. The book, then, is an attempt to re-establish the law of negligence as a body of law rather than as a branch of politics. The book argues that the law of negligence is best understood in terms of a relatively small set of principles enunciated in a small number of leading cases. It further argues that these principles are themselves best seen in terms of an aspect of morality called corrective justice which, when applied to the most important aspects of the law of negligence reveals that the law – even as it now exists – possesses a far greater degree of conceptual unity than is commonly thought. Using this method the author is able to examine familiar aspects of the law of negligence such as the standard of care; the duty of care; remoteness; misfeasance; economic loss; negligent misrepresentation; the liability of public bodies; wrongful conception; nervous shock; the defences of contributory negligence, voluntary assumption of risk, and illegality; causation; and issues concerning proof, to show that when the principles are applied and the idea of corrective justice is properly understood then the law appears both systematic and conceptually satisfactory. The upshot is a rediscovery of the law of negligence.