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

Lipshaw, Jeffrey M., CONTRACT ILLUSIONS AND DELUSIONS (August 11, 2023). Journal of Legal Studies in Business (2024), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4538427 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4538427

Jeffrey M. Lipshaw (Contact Author)

Suffolk University Law School ( email )

120 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108-4977
United States

HOME PAGE: http://ssrn.com/author=381790

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