The Common Law Of Obligations

The development of the law of obligations across the common law world has been, and continues to be, a story of unity and divergence. Its common origins continue to exert a powerful stabilising influence, carried forward by a methodology that places heavy weight on the historical foundations of legal principles. Divergence is, however, produced by numerous factors, including national and international human rights instruments, local statutory regimes, civil law influences, regional harmonisation, local circumstances and values and different political and legal cultures. The essays in this collection explore the forces that produce divergence, the countervailing forces that generate cohesion and consistency in the common law of obligations, and the influence that the major common law jurisdictions continue to exert over one another in this area of law. The chapters in this book were originally presented at the Seventh Biennial Conference on the Law of Obligations held in Hong Kong in July 2014. A second collection, entitled Divergences in Private Law (ISBN: 9781782256601), will focus on particular departures from the common law mainstream and the causes and effects of those deviations.

The Common Law of Obligations provides coverage of the history of obligations and its underlying principles, remedies, negation of liability and specific obligations. The book draws out the common themes that exist between traditional tort and contract courses, whilst the elements pertaining to the law of restitution are also included. "This important student text deals with all aspects of common law obligations, including the principles of the law of obligations, remedies, negation of liability and specific obligations. The books draws out the common themes that exist between traditional tort and contract courses whilst elements pertaining to the law of restitution are also included.This new edition takes account of statutory developments and new relevant case law since the previous edition and keeps the reader up to date with major changes in the areas of economic loss in negligence and undue influence/economic duress."