The Arguments in Justice in Transactions: A Reply to Commentators

Abstract

Abstract This reply addresses some of the basic questions and criticisms raised by commentators in their interesting pieces on Justice in Transactions. My aim in that book is to work out a public basis of justification for the common law of contract. Given the limits of space, the discussion here is unavoidably selective and incomplete. Within these parameters, however, the article presents, and hopefully clarifies, some of the book’s main arguments that are relevant to the comments, using the footnotes for more detailed responses to the particular points made. These points encompass both methodological and substantive issues. The former center around the nature of public justification and whether the proposed theory of contract law meets its requirements. The substantive issues addressed include the role of promises in contract law, the compatibility between contractual fairness and contractual freedom, and the relation between contract and distributive justice.