In this paper, a quadratic polynomial expression is used as the displacement shape function to develop the Boundary Contour Method. In this work, the divergence free property of the J integral is proved; the evaluation of the J integral is transformed, through an application of Stokes' theorem, into a linear combination of the displacement and traction at the boundary point that have been calculated by the Quadratic Boundary Contour Method such that numerical integrals are not needed at all. Numerical results are presented for two-dimensional problems, and these are compared against conventional solutions. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.