1. Introduction: the life of contract
2. Contract as promise
Promise
The moral obligation of promise
What a promise is worth
Remedies in and around the promise
3. Consideration
4. Answering a promise: offer and acceptance
Promise and vows
Acceptance and the law of third-party beneficiaries
The simple circuitry of offer and acceptance
Rejections, counteroffers, contracts at a distance, crossed offers
Reliance on an offer
5. Gaps
Mistake, frustration, and impossibility
Letting the loss lie where it falls
Parallels with general legal theory: an excursion
Filling the gaps
6. Good faith
"Honesty in fact"
Good faith in performance
7. Duress and unconscionability
Duress
Coercion and rights
Property
Hard bargains
Unconscionability, economic duress, and social justice
Bad samaritans
8. The importance of being right
You can always get your money back
Conditions
Waivers, forfeitures, repudiations
Notes
Index