A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations »

David Ibbetson is a lecturer in law at Oxford University

In this book David Ibbetson exposes the historical layers beneath the modern rules and principles of contract, tort, and unjust enrichment. Small-scale changes caused by lawyers successfully exploiting procedural advantages are juxtaposed with changes caused by friction along the boundaries of these principal legal categories; fossilized remnants of old doctrines jostle with newer ideas in a state of half-consistent tension; and loose-knit rules of equity developed in the Chancery infiltrate themselves into more tightly controlled Common law structures.

1 Prologue: The Prehistory of the English Law of Obligations
Pervasive Ideas Penalties and Entitlements Wrongs: Dishonour and Loss The Economy of Exchange Oaths: Threats and Promises Contracts and Personal Bonds Obligations in Roman Law Delict Contract Quasi-Contract Quasi-Delict
2 Structural Foundations
Liability for Wrongdoing: Damage and Dishonour Glanvill and the Law of Debt Covenant and a Law of Contract
3 Unity and Fragmentation of the Mediaeval Law of Contract
The Formalization of Covenant Covenant and the Conditional Bond The Fragmentation of Remedies for Informal Contracts
4 Trespass, Trespass on the Case, and the Mediaeval Law of Tort
The Core of Trespass: Forcible Wrongdoing Contractual Misperformance and Non-forcible Wrongs The Origins of Trespass on the Case
5 The Substantive Law of Torts
Strict Liability and the Role of Fault The Scope of Trespassory Liability
6 The Substantive Law of Contract
Voluntariness, Agreement, and the Formation of Contracts The Boundaries of Contract Expectations, Entitlements, and Liability for Breach of Contract
Part 2 The Triumph of Trespass on the Case
7 Tort, Property, and Reputation: the Expansion of the Action on the Case
Nuisance Trover and Conversion Tort and Reputation: Defamation
8 The Rise of the Action of Assumpsit
Trespass on the Case and Contractual Liability Contract and Tort: the Action of Assumpsit Assumpsit and the Theory of Contract The Formal Structure of Contractual Litigation
Part 3 The Modern Law of Tort and Contract
9 Trespass, Case, and the Moral Basis of Liability
Trespass and Case: the Formal Division The Crystallisation of Neglligence
10 The Law of Torts in the Nineteenth Century: The rise of the Tort of Negligence
The Tort of Negligence The Fragmentation of the Law of Tort
11 The Law of Torts in the Twentieth Century: Expansion and Collapse of the Tort of Negligence
The Unity of the Tort of Negligence Negligence and its Satellites
12 Foundations of the Modern Law of Contract
The Model of Contract The Theory of Contract
13 The Rise of the Will Theory
The Will Theory and the Classical Model of Contract
The Will Theory and the Model of Exchange
14 The Decline of the Will Theory: Legal Regulation and Contractual Fairness
Internal Weakness of the Will Theory Undercutting the Will of the Parties
Part 4 Unjust Enrichment
15 Unjust Enrichment
Unjust Enrichment before Lord Mansfield Implied Trusts and Implied Contracts Quasi-Contract, Restitution, and Unjust Enrichment
16 Legal Change and Legal Continuity