Document Type
Symposium
Publication Date
2006
Abstract
It is tempting to open this symposium with yet another "boilerplate" salute to the challenge that standard-form contracts pose for contract law doctrine. You may have seen many tributes to this fundamental problem. If I were to offer my own variation on this familiar introduction, I would have perhaps tried to come up with an original spin to induce you to read forward another paragraph or two. I would probably have talked about a major divide within contract law between the "law of negotiations" and "product regulation." The former is the body of doctrines that determine the legal consequences of bargaining behavior; the latter is the assortment of substantive limitations on terms of bargains, some general to all contracts, others industry- or area-specific. I would then have argued that the study of standard form belongs to the latter, not the former, and that this distinction can help overcome many difficulties in contract law doctrine.
Recommended Citation
Ben-Shahar, Omri. Foreword to Boilerplate: Foundations of Market Contracts Symposium. Mich. L. Rev. 104, no. 5 (2006): 821-6.