Overview

This book engages with some of Stephen A Smith’s most significant arguments, illustrating that he was a towering figure in the field of private law, with little of the field not impacted by his scholarship. The contributors explore Professor Smith’s most controversial thinking on private law. Interrogating questions of contract law, remedies, unjust enrichment, comparative law, and the legal theory underlying these fields, this is an important publication in the field.

Full Product Details

Author:   Evan Fox-Decent (McGill University, Canada) ,  John C. P. Goldberg (Harvard Law School, USA) ,  Lionel Smith (University of Oxford, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Hart Publishing
Dimensions:   Width: 15.40cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.20cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9781509971190

ISBN 10:   150997119
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   23 July 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Shauna Van Praagh List of Contributors Introduction, Evan Fox-Decent, John CP Goldberg, Lionel Smith Part One: Methodology 1. Mapmaking and Law’s Legitimacy, Larissa Katz 2. The Elegance of Private Law, Andrew Gold 3. Comparative Legal Scholarship: Anything but Ordinary, Rosalie Jukier 4. Two Genres of Interpretive Legal Theories, Hanoch Dagan 5. “Comparative Law” as an Academic Discipline, Helge Dedek Part Two: Remedies 6. Continuity and Creativity in the Law of Remedies, Arthur Ripstein 7. The Moral Authority of Rulings, Evan Fox-Decent 8. The Continuity Thesis: The Gift that Fails to Keep on Giving, James Penner 9. Monstrans de droit, Petition of Right, and Liability for Crown Debt, Joshua Getzler 10. Trusts as Remedies, Robert Chambers 11. Remedial Restitutionary Rights?, Bill Swadling Part Three: Contract 12. The Scope of Restraint of Trade, Robert Stevens 13. What Might Contract Theory Be?, Gregory Klass 14. Rights, Wrongs, Injustices and the Three Strata of Contract Law, Mark Gergen 15. Conceptualizing the Law of Contractual Modifications: A Different Framework, Peter Benson 16. Applying Smith to the Practice of Contract Remedies, Adam Kramer KC 17. In Defence of Smith’s “In Defence of the Third-Party Rule”, Jason W Neyers Part Four: Law’s Normativity 18. Trying and Succeeding, John CP Goldberg & Benjamin C. Zipursky 19. The Unknowability Objection, Dennis Klimchuk 20. Must We Know What We Owe?, Frederick Wilmot-Smith 21. The Cough Drops on Loyalty, Lionel Smith 22. Free-standing Liabilities, Nicholas J McBride 23. Is Private Law Normatively Distinctive?, Paul B Miller List of Publications of Stephen A. Smith, 1994-2022

Reviews

Smith did have a distinctive way of understanding law, and an equally distinctive idea of private law. And if, despite the careful and sustained attention in this book, they sometimes resist easy analysis, that is also testament to their distinctiveness. It should be read by all wishing to join in this great celebration of a great scholar, but particularly by those interested in legal methodology and private law adjudication. * Conveyancer and Property Lawyer *

Author Information

Evan Fox-Decent holds the Canada Research Chair in Cosmopolitan Law and Justice at the Faculty of Law, McGill University, Canada. John C. P. Goldberg is Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School, USA. Lionel Smith is Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford, UK.

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