Bowers on formalism

We recently got two interesting reprints in the mail from James W. Bowers (LSU).  In Murphy’s Law and the Elementary Theory of Contract Interpretation: A Response to Schwartz and Scott, 57 Rutgers L. Rev. 587 (2005), he takes issue with the claim by Alan Schwartz and Bob Scott that businesses prefer “nineteenth century formalist contract interpretation rules,” arguing instead that they prefer an “ex post problem resolving institution like common law litigation.”  An SSRN version of the paper is here.

In Put Your Nose in Your Clients’ Businesses (If You Want to Understand their Contracts), 57 Maine L. Rev. 39 (2005), he traces the decline of contract law to the failings of lawyers to respond to the real needs of businesses, “especially lawyers’ commitment to wooden, formalist legal methods.”  You can request copies from him by e-mail here.

[Frank Snyder]