12 - Growth of the Modern Law of Contract

Abstract

This chapter discusses various aspects related to the growth of the modern law of contract. In the 15th century common law, the ill performance of a promise was remedied—not as a breach of it but as a negligent wrong. The false warranty, eventually to be treated as a promise in itself, was remedied as a deceit inducing the purchase. The earliest cases are the most difficult to understand. In local courts, there were good reasons for the classification of many misfeasances as trespass. The background to Doiges case, in which the agreement was actually made in the city of London, seems to be a well-established idea of deceit in the city and probably in other local jurisdictions.