Origin and Scope
Contract law is based on the principle expressed in the Latin phrase pacta sunt servanda, which is usually translated "agreements must be kept" but more literally means "pacts must be kept".
Contract law can be classified, as is habitual in civil law systems, as part of a general law of obligations, along with tort, unjust enrichment, and restitution.
As a means of economic ordering, contract relies on consensual exchange and has been extensively discussed in broader economic, sociological, and anthropological terms (see "Contractual theory" below). In American English, the term extends beyond the legal meaning to encompass a broader category of agreements.
This article mainly concerns the common law. Such jurisdictions usually retain a high degree of freedom of contract, with parties largely at liberty to set their own terms. This is in contrast to the civil law, which typically applies certain overarching principles to disputes arising out of contract, as in the French Civil Code.
However, contract is a form of economic ordering common throughout the world, and different rules apply in jurisdictions applying civil law (derived from Roman law principles), Islamic law, socialist legal systems, and customary or local law.
Read more about this topic: Contract
Famous quotes containing the words origin and/or scope:
“Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A country survives its legislation. That truth should not comfort the conservative nor depress the radical. For it means that public policy can enlarge its scope and increase its audacity, can try big experiments without trembling too much over the result. This nation could enter upon the most radical experiments and could afford to fail in them.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)