CONTRACT ILLUSIONS AND DELUSIONS
Journal of Legal Studies in Business (2024)
13 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2023 Last revised: 11 Dec 2023
Date Written: August 11, 2023
Abstract
This essay explores the extent to which lawyers' beliefs about contract law emanate from illusions and delusions embedded in and around the doctrinal canon. It praises the recent piece on generative contract interpretation by Arbel and Hoffman as means of skewering metaphysical nonsense like "mutual" or "shared" intention of the parties. It also assesses the extent to which belief in, and justification of, contract law as an institution borders on the delusional. The claim is that our very ability to cope with the world entails "dark trust" we barely notice and cannot measure. Thus contracts, rather than being very meaningful or even not nearly as meaningful as lawyers think, are means of groping for order, reassurance, and certainty in the face of chaos, insecurity, and the unknown unknowns. They can be, in a phrase, delusions of order.
Keywords: Contract interpretation, mutual intention, shared intention, illusion, generative AI, Arbel, Hoffman, dark trust, uncertainty
JEL Classification: K12, K22, K41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation