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28 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 297 (2019)
Modern Unilateral Contracts

handle is hein.journals/bupi28 and id is 309 raw text is: 









         MODERN UNILATERAL CONTRACTS*

                           Mark  Pettit, Jr.**


I. THE  UNILATERAL-BILATERAL DISTINCTION AND
       CRITICISM   OF THE  GREAT   DICHOTOMY ............. 299
II. THE SECOND RESTATEMENT             .........................   303
III. THE PROLIFERATION OF UNILATERAL CONTRACTS
       CASES           .............................................. 305
       A. Unilateral Contracts Between Employers and Employees....... 306
           1. Cases in Which the Employee Has Fully Performed......... 309
           2. Cases in Which the Employee Has Partially Performed.... 311
      B.  Some  Less Traditional Uses of the Unilateral Contract Idea ... 314
           1. Plea Bargains      ..........................    ...... 315
           2. Other Citizen-State Relationships  ....................... 316
           3. Contracts with Schools .......  ....................... 319
      C.  The Adaptability of the Unilateral Contract Concept............... 320
IV. SEARCHING FOR LIMITS ON THE USE OF UNILATERAL
      CONTRACT            ............................................ 322
      A.  Unilateral Contract as a Tool for Expanding Civil
           Obligation       ........................................ 322
      B.  The Promissory Basis of Unilateral Obligation.....         ....... 323
           1. The Employment  Benefit Cases...........          ............. 324
           2. The Personal Injury Cases   ..................   ..... 331



 Professor Mark Pettit served as the Public Interest Law Journal's faculty advisor for many
 years during his illustrious career at Boston University School of Law. The Journal's staff
 members, both past and present, are eternally grateful for the guidance and support that he so
 generously offered during his time with us. He will be greatly missed not only by the
 members of the Journal but also by his colleagues and the many students that were lucky
 enough to have him as a professor. In his memory, the Journal has decided to republish his
 seminal work, Modern Unilateral Contracts (republished with the permission of Boston
 University Law Review).
 ** Associate Professor, Boston University School of Law. A.B., 1968, Bowdom College;
 J.D., 1971, University of Chicago.
 I want to thank the many colleagues who provided helpful comments on early drafts. I owe
particular thanks to Ronald Cass, Burnett Harvey, John Leubsdorf, and Aviam Soifer, each
of whom labored through more than one draft, and to my research assistants-Cindy Hirsch,
Robert Landau, John Riley, and Joseph Whalen.


297

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