Table Of Content–
THE LAW OF CONTRACT 1670 1870
The foundations for modern contract law were laid between 1670 and
1870.Ratherthanadvancingapurelychronologicalaccount,thisexami-
nation of the development of contract law doctrine in England during
thattimeexploreskeythemesinordertobetterunderstandthedriversof
legalchange.Thesethemesincludetherelationshipbetweenlawyersand
merchants,theroleofequity,theplaceofstatute,andthepartplayedby
legalliterature.Developmentsareconsideredinthecontextofthelegal
systemofthetimeandthroughthosewhowereinvolvedinlitigationas
lawyers, judges, jurors or litigants. It concludes that the way in which
contractlawdevelopedwascomplex.Legalchangewasoftenunevenand
slow, and some of the apparent changes had deep roots in the past.
Clashes between conservative and more reformist tendencies were not
uncommon.
warren swain is an Associate Professor at the TC Beirne School of
Law,UniversityofQueensland,Australia.
cambridge studies in english legal history
Editedby
J.H.Baker
FellowofStCatharine’sCollege,Cambridge
Recentseriestitlesinclude
TheLawofContract1670–1870
Warren Swain
AHistoryofEnglishTortLaw1900–1950
Paul Mitchell
SirEdwardCokeandtheReformationoftheLaws
Religion,PoliticsandJurisprudence,1578–1616
David Chan Smith
MedievalEnglishConveyances
John M. Kaye
MarriageLawandPracticesintheLongEighteenthCentury
AReassessment
Rebecca Probert
TheRiseandFalloftheEnglishEcclesiasticalCourts,1500–1860
R.B. Outhwaite
LawCourtsandLawyersintheCityofLondon,1300–1550
Penny Tucker
LegalFoundationsofTribunalsinNineteenthCenturyEngland
Chantal Stebbings
PettyfoggersandVipersoftheCommonwealth
The‘LowerBranch’oftheLegalProfessionInEarlyModernEngland
C.W. Brooks
RomanCanonLawinReformationEngland
R.H. Helmholz,Sir Henry Maine
AStudyinVictorianJurisprudence
R.C.J. Cocks,Sir William Scott,Lord Stowell
JudgeoftheHighCourtofAdmiralty,1798–1828
Henry J. Bourguignon
TheEarlyHistoryoftheLawofBillsandNotes
AStudyoftheOriginsofAnglo-AmericanCommercialLaw
James Steven Rogers
TheLawofTreasoninEnglandintheLaterMiddleAges
J.G. Bellamy
WilliamSheppard,Cromwell’sLawReformer
Nancy L. Matthews
THE LAW OF CONTRACT
–
1670 1870
WARREN SWAIN
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
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ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107040762
©WarrenSwain2015
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Swain,Warren,1973–author.
Thelawofcontract,1670–1870/WarrenSwain.
pages cm.–(Cambridgestudiesinenglishlegalhistory)
ISBN978-1-107-04076-2(hardback)
1. Contracts–England–History. I. Title.
KD1554.S93 2015
346.4202020903–dc23
2014043957
ISBN978-1-107-04076-2Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments pagevi
Tableofcases viii
Tableofstatutes xxviii
1 Introduction 1
2 Thelegalsystemandthelawofcontract 11
3 LawyersandmerchantsI 42
4 LawyersandmerchantsII 75
5 EquityandtheCommonlaw 107
6 LordMansfieldandhissuccessors 127
7 Equityandtheregulationofunfairnessincontracting:theusury
lawsasacasestudy 153
8 Theclassicalmodelofcontract:theproductofarevolutionin
legalthought? 172
9 Classicalcontractlawanditslimits 201
10 Contractlaw,illegalityandpublicpolicy 231
11 Contractlawandstatutelaw 250
12 Thelawofcontract:stabilityandchange 274
Bibliography 283
Index 322
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ItwasW.H.Audenwhowrotethat,‘Inheadachesandinworryvaguely
lifeleaksaway’.Thisisallthemoretruewhenwritingabook.Thisbook
originated in an Oxford D.Phil, Aspects of the Action of Assumpsit
1750–1855(2003),onlyafractionofwhichhassurvivedintothecurrent
work. I should like to thank the examiners of that thesis, Professor
Thomas Watkin and Professor John Cartwright, for their helpful com-
mentsandadvice.Igratefullyacknowledgethehelpandwisecounselof
mysupervisorandfriend,ProfessorDavidIbbetson.Ishouldalsoliketo
thank two people who first kindled my interest in law and legal history
respectively. The first, the late Roy Stuart, is rightly remembered with
great fondness by generations of Hertford undergraduates. I only hope
that I have pinned down the issues with sufficient clarity. The second,
Jeffrey Hackney, encouraged my first faltering steps in legal history. I
oweDavid,RoyandJeffreyahugeintellectualdebt.
Thisbookhastakenalongtimetowrite,duringwhichIhavebeena
member of the law faculties at Oxford, Birmingham and Durham
universities as well as the University of Queensland. Various friends
have kept me going. It would be remiss not to mention Kenny,
Jennean, Mick ‘The Hat’ and Jean, Tom, Paul, Tony and the late Julian
Walters from theearlyyears. InBirminghamI should liketo thankmy
friendswhotooklunchonthebottomfloorofstaffhouseandcouldstill
remember a time when universities were fun places to work. Of my
colleagues in Durham it suffices to say, along with Virgil, ‘latet anguis
inherba’.IwouldhoweverliketothanktheregularsinTheShakespeare
forsomehappymemoriesfrommytimeinDurham.Duringthecrucial
finalstagesmyfriendsinBrisbane,Graeme,KitandDominic,havebeen
more help than they know. Dave Campbell and the late Brian Simpson
both provided encouragement and made helpful suggestions when the
project was flagging. I should also like to thank my research assistant
Joseph Clowes, whose role went way beyond proof reading, for his
friendship and wisdom beyond his years. At various points my family
vi
acknowledgments vii
hasprovidedfinancialsupport.MyfatherismymostloyalreaderandI
hopethathewillfindsomethingheretoenjoy.Finallyandmostimpor-
tantlyIshouldliketothankmyformerpartnerKarenFairweatherwho
livedwiththisbookformanyyears.Itisto herthatitisdedicatedwith
affection.Needlesstosayanyerrorsremainingaremyown.
Someofthematerialusedinthisbookhasappearedindifferentforms
as:‘The Changing Nature of the Doctrine of Consideration1750–1850’
(2005)26JournalofLegalHistory49–61;‘Mosesv.Macferlan(1760)’,in
CharlesMitchellandPaulMitchell(eds.),LandmarkCasesintheLawof
Restitution (Oxford: Hart, 2006), pp. 19–37; ‘Da Costa v. Jones (1778)’,
inCharlesMitchellandPaulMitchell(eds.),LandmarkCasesintheLaw
of Contract (Oxford: Hart, 2008), pp. 119–34; ‘The Classical Model of
Contract:theProductofaRevolutioninLegalThought’(2010)30Legal
Studies 513–32. I am grateful to John Wiley and Sons, Taylor and
Francis, and Bloomsbury Publishing plc for permission to use this
material.
TABLE OF CASES
Allesbrookv.Roach(1795)PeakeAddCas27 131
Ameryv.Rogers(1794)1Esp208 131
Andersonv.George(1757)1Burr352 108
Andersonv.Temple(1767)4Burr2235 108
Andrewsv.Herne(1661)1Lev33 239
Anon(1674)1Vent258 66
Anon(1680),Yale,Nottingham,Vol.II,p.868 164
Anon(1693)Skin327 86
Anon(1694)HoltKB115 56
Anon(1694)Comb243 102
Anon(1695)Comb341 73,119
Anon(1697)Comb446 73,119
Anon(1698)Holt296 58
Anon(1699)12Mod344 251
Anon(1700)12Mod345,HoltKB296 52
Anon(1701)12Mod439 104
Anon(1702)2Salk649 105
Anon(1704)6Mod242 105
Anon(1806)2Camp317(note) 143
Adamsv.Lindsell(1818)1B&Ald681 184,185
Allcardv.Skinner(1887)36ChD145 216
Allenv.Hearn(1785)1TR56 242
Applebyv.Dods(1807)8East300 138
Applebyv.Myers(1867)LR2CP651 126
Appletonv.Sweetapple(1782)3Doug137 28
Araminta,The(1854)1SpEcc&Ad224 218
Ardglassev.Muschamp(1684)1Vern237 165
Arrisv.Stukely(1677)2Mod260 73
Ashv.Ash(1696)Holt701 26
Astleyv.Reynolds(1731)2Stra915,2BarnKB40,HLSMS4055f.41,HLS
MS1110f.120,LIMSMisc.98f.194,LIMSHill65f.41 71,72,252
viii
