•  
  •  
 

St. Thomas Law Review

First Page

375

Document Type

Article

Abstract

On February 21, 2014, the St. Thomas University School of Law opened a symposium entitled simply "Contracts" in conjunction with the Ninth Annual International Conference on Contracts hosted by the School of Law. The decision of the St. Thomas Law Review to sponsor and conduct a symposium on the simple broad reaching topic of contract law with this esteemed group was a natural decision and exciting opportunity. Contract law has long been a foundation study for students and scholars with a rich history and significance to individuals and businesses alike. Significantly, as reflected by Dr. Roni Rosenberg in his essay in this Symposium, "[c]ontract law is the backbone of civil jurisprudence, and at its center stands the contract itself, in all of its splendor." Yet, while contract law anticipates a system of "voluntary agreement," it is one where "[t]he paradigm case involving negotiation is not the only kind of contract that can be valid under the basic commitment to freedom of contract . ... It is the necessity of demonstrating "a bargain [made with] free choice or consent" that provides the flexibility inherent in contract law, but which also continues to raise different questions regarding consent. Still, for those who might question, why have a symposium that is broadly casted in a study that is so far reaching? Would it not be better to have a more theoretical symposium topic, such as one on constructions and manipulations in the assent doctrine? Or, alternatively, a practice-oriented reader might be intrigued by a topic focused on pitfalls in a transactional practice. The other conferences, panels, and symposia that have taken up a wide variety of contractual and transactional topics reveal the robustness of this area and a call for continued reflection. While other proceedings have at times focused on narrow issues in a more comprehensive fashion, they cannot deal with and take up as a whole the fundamental questions: Why is the study of traditional contract doctrine relevant today? What is its relationship to and dependency on other doctrines and studies? What is the reach of contract law in a globalized market? It is to explore these rich questions that we decided to have a symposium open to all of the topics related to contract law on a global basis. These papers collectively tell a story about the need to examine and consider our application of traditional contract doctrine, particularly in modem transactions.

Download

Included in

Contracts Commons

Share

COinS