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Crystal and Mud Contracts: The Theory of Contract and the Ontology of Values

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The Constitutional Dimension of Contract Law

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to use the evolution of Italian law as an example of a typical Latin jurisdiction that passed through different ages, characterised by the adoption of different values, in order to understand the inherent ambiguity of the legal discourse on contract and values. The chapter will proceed toward a discussion of the nature of values in the context of the theory of Comparative law. The main conclusions will be (1) that there is not a pure form of contract and (2) that in order to cope with values we need to develop a theory of legal ontologies as the main target of Comparative law.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Monateri (2016), p. 5, with reference to Gilmore (1974).

  2. 2.

    See Somma and Monateri (2003), p. 55.

  3. 3.

    Gordley (2001), p. 17.

  4. 4.

    See Grundman (2008), p. 19 et seq.

  5. 5.

    Cover (1983), p. 4 et seq.

  6. 6.

    Rizzo and Arnold (1987), p. 65.

  7. 7.

    Coase (1988).

  8. 8.

    Hesselink (2007), p. 330 et seq.

  9. 9.

    Gordley (2010), p. 10 et seq.

  10. 10.

    Livingston et al. (2015), p. 177 et seq.

  11. 11.

    Costantini (2017).

  12. 12.

    Creutzig (1969), p. 374 et seq.

  13. 13.

    On the intricate history of the donatio remuneratoria see Laurent (1999).

  14. 14.

    See all the references in Hussard (2002).

  15. 15.

    Santoro-Passatelli (2002), p. 225.

  16. 16.

    See Livingston et al. (2015), pp. 201–206.

  17. 17.

    Daube (1951), p. 67 et seq.

  18. 18.

    Gordley (2010), p. 30 et seq.

  19. 19.

    Aristotle discusses this theory in the Nicomachean Ethic, Book V, chapter 3. See Gordon (2007).

  20. 20.

    See Livingston et al. (2015), pp. 2, 100 and 132.

  21. 21.

    See Il Comitato Giuridico Italo-germanico per la Riforma del Diritto delle Obbligazioni, Rivista di diritto commerciale (1938) at I, 437.

  22. 22.

    See Somma and Monateri (2003), para 4 with references.

  23. 23.

    Siebert (1942), p. 454, cited in Somma and Monateri (2003) fn 32.

  24. 24.

    Perlingieri (1978), pp. 5 et seq.

  25. 25.

    See the ‘Relazione della Commissione Reale al progetto del libro Obbligazioni e Contratti’, n. 5.

  26. 26.

    See the ‘Relazione del Guardasigilli al progetto ministeriale delle obbligazioni’, n. 17.

  27. 27.

    Stoll (1936), p. 1; and see also Haupt (1943), p. 84.

  28. 28.

    Livingston et al. (2015), p. 54 et seq.

  29. 29.

    See Article 1448 c.c. providing rescission in certain cases of unequal bargaining position.

  30. 30.

    See Codice civile, fifth book, particularly Articles. 1060–1081, 2222–2246.

  31. 31.

    Calvo (2013), p. 44 et seq.

  32. 32.

    See Alpa (2014) with all references.

  33. 33.

    See Sacco (1993), pp. 375 et seq. and 484 et seq.

  34. 34.

    Perlingieri (2010).

  35. 35.

    Baldassarre (1997).

  36. 36.

    Sorrenti (2006).

  37. 37.

    Dossetti (1995).

  38. 38.

    See German Constitution Article 1 [Human Dignity]:

    (1) Human dignity is inviolable. To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority.

    (2) The German People therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every human community, of peace, and of justice in the world.

    (3) The following basic rights are binding on legislature, executive, and judiciary as directly valid law.

  39. 39.

    Lipari (2004).

  40. 40.

    Mattheis (2012), p. 626 et seq.

  41. 41.

    See Bodansky (2009), p. 565 et seq.

  42. 42.

    We need to remember in addition that the pro-market intervention of the American Supreme Court in Lochner vs New York 198 US 45 (1905) was based on the theory of substantive due process as a Constitutional value to be applied even to private parties.

  43. 43.

    Beaulac (2009), p. 197; and see Waldron (2006), p. 1 et seq.

  44. 44.

    Zieret (2008), pp. 466–467.

  45. 45.

    Kelsen (1957), p. 365.

  46. 46.

    Cheshire et al. (1996), pp. 352–353.

  47. 47.

    Kennedy (1976), p. 1777.

  48. 48.

    Muir-Watt (2000), p. 505.

  49. 49.

    Searle (1995).

  50. 50.

    Calabresi (1985).

  51. 51.

    De Man (1986), pp. 7–8.

  52. 52.

    Polanyi (1944).

  53. 53.

    Atiyah (1979).

  54. 54.

    Gilmore (1974).

  55. 55.

    Gordley (2016).

  56. 56.

    See the World Bank Policy Research Working Papers, 2003, n° 3136, Legal Institutions and Financial Developments.

  57. 57.

    See Hayek (1976), pp. 178–179.

  58. 58.

    Hayek (1976), p. 107 et seq.

  59. 59.

    Obvious reference is here to Marlow's and Goethe's Doctor Faust.

  60. 60.

    Agamben (2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Pier Giuseppe Monateri

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  1. Pier Giuseppe Monateri
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Correspondence to Pier Giuseppe Monateri .

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  1. Department of Law, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Luca Siliquini-Cinelli

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Andrew Hutchison

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Monateri, P.G. (2017). Crystal and Mud Contracts: The Theory of Contract and the Ontology of Values. In: Siliquini-Cinelli, L., Hutchison, A. (eds) The Constitutional Dimension of Contract Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49843-0_5

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