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46 Harv. L. Rev. 553 (1932-1933)
The Basis of Contract

handle is hein.journals/hlr46 and id is 621 raw text is: HARVARD
LAW REVIEW

VOL. XLVI             FEBRUARY, 1933                    No. 4
THE BASIS OF CONTRACT *
T HE nature of contract has been much discussed by lawyers
interested in specific technical doctrines, and by moralists,
economists, and political theorists interested in general social
philosophy. There is still need for some effort to combine these
points of view. The bearings of general philosophy become more
definite through its applications, and the meaning of a technical
doctrine receives illumination when we see it in the light of those
wider ideas of which it is the logical outcome.
This large and important task is obviously beyond the limits of
a short paper. But a few suggestions may indicate something of
the scope of the problem.
I. THE SOCIAL ROOTS OF CONTRACT
One of the most influential of modern saws is Maine's famous
dictum that the progress of the law has been from status to con-
tract. It has generally been understood as stating not only a his-
torical generalization but also a judgment of sound policy - that
a legal system wherein rights and duties are determined by the
agreement of the parties is preferable to a system wherein they
are determined by status.
This easy assumption, that whatever happens to be the outcome
of history is necessarily for the best and cannot or ought not to be
counteracted by any human effort, is typical not only of the histori-
* This article will appear as part of a book on LAW AND TE SOCAL ORDER,
to be published by Harcourt Brace & Co.

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