When Contract’s Basic Assumptions Fail

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Hanoch Dagan ◽  
Ohad Somech
Keyword(s):  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
Erroneous Beliefs

Modern contract law accords considerable significance to the basic assumptions on which a contract is made. It thus takes to heart a failure of a belief whose truthfulness is taken for granted by both parties. Where the failure results from the parties’ mistake at the time of formation, “the contract is voidable by the adversely affected party,” if that mistake “has a material effect on the agreed exchange of performances” and unless that party “bears the risk of the mistake.”1 Where, in turn, the failure of such a basic assumption results from the parties’ erroneous beliefs about future states of the world, a party’s duty to render performance may be discharged if they are not responsible for the supervening impracticability or frustration and “unless the language or the circumstances indicate the contrary.”2

Basic Assumptions in the World of Sports

Quest ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eldon E. Snyder ◽  
Elmer Spreitzer
Keyword(s):  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World

Cross-cultural Piagetian Research: An Experimental Perspective

1975 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Teague Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Stage Theory ◽  
Cognitive Growth ◽  
Genetic Epistemology ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Apparent Conflict

Over the last twenty-five years children around the world have observed and responded to researchers who pour water from beaker to beaker, roll plasticene into snake-like figures, and arrange matchsticks into a potpourri of shapes. These cross-cultural experiments have been undertaken to test Piaget's theory of genetic epistemology, which posits a hierarchical, universal, and invariant sequence of stages of cognitive development. Piagetian research in varying cultures has revealed both striking similarities and marked differences in performance on cognitive tasks, some in apparent conflict with the basic assumptions of Piagetian stage theory. In this article Professor Ashton reviews a range of cross-cultural Piagetian research, analyzes the sometimes divergent findings from this research, and suggests methodological improvements which may help to resolve past dilemmas and to further future understanding of cognitive growth in different cultures.

scholarly journals Rethinking MAC Clauses in the Time of Akorn, Boston Scientific, and COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Samuel Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Contract Law ◽  
Boston Scientific ◽  
Economic Uncertainty ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

The MAC clause is perhaps the most important clause in contract law, giving acquirers the ability to terminate even the largest agreements in the face of an often vaguely defined “Material Adverse Change.” For decades, even though MAC clauses have been present in nearly every merger agreement, courts have almost universally refused to enforce them. But the Delaware Chancery Court’s 2018 decision in Akorn may finally change that. As the world deals with the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, courts may soon get more opportunities to decide whether or not they will follow Akorn’s lead and begin to allow companies to exit agreements. In this Article, I argue that they should.

Frustration of purpose and the French Contract Law reform

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-309
Author(s):  
Mitja Kovac
Keyword(s):  
International Business ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
The World ◽  
Governing Principle ◽  
English Law ◽  
Unforeseen Contingencies ◽  
Code Civil

Frustration of purpose remains one of the most ill-defined concepts in the English law of contracts. The same problem has also recently attracted the attention of the French legislature in its modernization of the Code Civil. The French reform entitles courts with broad powers to adjust the contract when unforeseen contingencies have made the bargain unduly costly. This article argues that the introduction of an economically inspired adjustment rule in English contract law should be re-considered to maintain its current superior commercial position. If implemented, then the ‘ex ante division of surplus’ should be the governing principle in adjusting contract price, because such a remedy will not affect the agreed-upon division of the surplus. Moreover, this paper suggests that the recent French reform is indeed a long-awaited step toward a more effective regulation of the notorious ‘unforeseen contingencies’ phenomena, but also suggests that further improvements might be needed. Furthermore, it offers a set of arguments suggesting that the English law in its current form might still be the preferred option in the world of international business transactions. The international commercial attractiveness of English contract law, although being challenged by the new French Civil Code, remains undisputed.

Linguistic failures

English Today ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niu Qiang ◽  
Martin Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Contract Law ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
International Language ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
The Status ◽  
China Today ◽  
World Maritime ◽  
Over Time

Heart-felt opposition to the status and spread of English in the world at large and most particularly in China today. It can hardly be denied that England has given the world maritime law, contract law, and an international language. However, whether by accident or design, the effect of these ‘gifts’ over time has, we would argue, been the destruction of many ethnic customs, social structures, and other aspects of culture. There appears to be little or no dissent among linguists regarding the proposition that language and culture are inseparable: what affects one affects the other.This paper discusses how the global spread of English has affected – deleteriously – many languages and cultures, and currently engages too much time and too many resources in China today. Maritime and contract law may have been less problematic.

scholarly journals THE REFORM OF FRENCH CONTRACT LAW: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Downe
Keyword(s):  
Contract Law ◽  
Civil Code ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Many ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Since the Napoleonic Code of 1804 we have seen republics, monarchies and empires coming and going; local and world wars; revolutions, from the industrial to the informational; and our society has moved from an economy based on agriculture to one open to the world, based on tertiary services. In all this time, French contract law has been able to stay up and keep up to date with the many changes in society, thanks to the judicial interpretation of the various articles of the French civil code and the generality of its articles. There have been many previous attempts to reform French contract law but its principles, forged in 1804, have escaped unscathed, except for certain transpositions of European directives. This article focuses on an academic point of view with regards the reforms to the French civil code that will bring private contract law into line with modern international standards. This is the first step in a series of broader changes the government is making to the French law of obligations. This reform is said to have both adapted and revolutionised French contract law and merits scholarly attention.

Philosophical reimaginings of educational places and policy: Through the metaphor of a wardrobe

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Alerby ◽  
Sonja Arndt ◽  
Susanne Westman
Keyword(s):  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Structural Approach ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Life World ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Chronicles Of Narnia ◽  
Educational Spaces ◽  
The World ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
The Witch

The aim of this paper is to challenge the physical and conceptual boundaries of educational places and spaces with the use of metaphor: the story of Professor Kirke’s magic wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis (1950) . By explicating and theorising the concerns that arise, we provoke diverse ways of thinking about the complexities of shifting, expanding, constantly evolving educational spaces and places. In our theorisations, we draw on the philosophy of the life-world through Maurice Merleau-Ponty, on a post-structural approach through Julia Kristeva’s work, and on the new-materialist perspective of Gilles Deleuze. As these three philosophical perspectives draw upon different basic assumptions about humans and the world, they also illuminate different aspects of a variety of phenomena and concepts, which we elaborate on in this paper to reach a more comprehensive understanding of educational spaces and places. Our argument arises from philosophical engagements with the story of the Pevensie siblings’ transformation – and transportation – to Narnia through the wardrobe, with notions of educational openings and opportunities, to explore possibilities for reimagining the conceptions and realities of places and spaces in education. To conclude, citizens of today, including children, students, teachers, politicians and researchers, need to discuss basic assumptions for education and policy to reimagine the entangled complexities of educational spaces and places.

scholarly journals Basic Assumptions

Wisdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 148-175
Author(s):  
John Kekes
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
Better Than

Basic assumptions are those we cannot help holding. Some of them are factual, such as that we have a body; other people exist; we need nutrition, rest, contact with others; we have and use language, and so forth. Others are evaluative, like health is better than sickness, happiness better than misery, appreciation better than humiliation, peace better than war, and so on. Such assumptions are about the fundamental conditions of our lives and presupposed by how we respond to the world. Some of them may be mistaken, but if many of them were mistaken, human life would be endangered. We can then test our beliefs, emotions, desires, and evaluations by asking whether they conform to basic assumptions. Part of human wisdom is to know which of the many assumptions we make are basic, which are not, and how to avoid confusing strongly held assumptions, especially evaluative ones, with basic ones.

scholarly journals A Contrastive Study of Four English Versions of Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1401-1408
Author(s):  
Mao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Contract Law ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Labor Contract ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The World ◽  
Labor Contract Law

Law is a system of rules of conduct that are created by the national legislature in accordance with the legislative procedures and are enforced by the state power. Legal language, as the manifestation of law and the carrier of the legal information, must be accurate and formal. On the ground of the special function of law, words are dedicatedly selected and used within the given field in legal texts. Some unique lexical features of legal language can be found easily to ensure the accuracy and formalness of legal texts, such as the employment of archaic words, the use of loan words and the application of formal words. The contrastive study is conducted from the lexical aspect of the four English versions of Labor Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China, with an attempt to find out the differences in formalness of the law caused by different uses of words in four versions and wish legal translators pay more attention to formality and accuracy of legal words. As for the four versions, one is taken from PKU’s legal academic sector, marked as V1 in the following comparative study. One is translated by Backer & Mckenzie(V2), one of the biggest legal agents in the world, which functions as an introduction of Chinese government’s policies concerning labor contracts to the world. One is taken from the official website the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (NPC), marked as V3. And the other is taken from Shuangcheng Attorneys at Law in association with China Axis Limited, marked as V4 in the following contrastive study.

scholarly journals Restoring the Critical Power of Curriculum Studies to Transform the Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-113
Author(s):  
Edi Subkhan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Curriculum Studies ◽  
Material World ◽  
New Managerialism ◽  
Epistemological Foundation ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
Important Field ◽  
Educational Field

Curriculum Studies has evolved for years and already gain its very honorable place in the heart of education studies. Most education scholars said that curriculum is important, curriculum is the heart of education (Priestley & Philippou, 2019), and in so doing curriculum studies. But, how this very important field of studies survive and evolve in this vulnerable and unpredictable era which neoliberal agendas dominating almost educational field around the world? We are witnessing how the culture of positivism, competition ideology, New Managerialism, and even racism and hatred, poisoning and deflect the aims of education. On the other hand, there also a crisis in curriculum studies in which curriculum seems only struggling and focusing on theoretical discourse without any significant influences on the material world. Right in this very difficult position of curriculum studies, the work of Wayne Au is significant. He wrote very important book entitled “Critical Curriculum Studies: Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing” in 2012. Which Michael Apple in the series editor introduction said that this work is ambitious and provocative, because it seeks theoretical and epistemological foundation of critical curriculum studies that challenges many basic assumptions about curriculum (Au, 2012, p. xv). I am agree with what has Apple said and through this review book article I would say that Au’s work has huge contribution to the development of curriculum studies in this contemporary era, especially in order to become a tool to change or transform the society to be more democratic and just.

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