Upcoming Conference: Fault in Contract Law

On September 26 and 27, the Law School will host a conference dedicated to reevaluating the role of fault in contract doctrine. As the conference website asks,

Is it immoral to breach a contract? Should the intent ("mens rea") of the breaching party matter? Should the courts, in general, view more harshly parties’ faulty behavior? Does the idea of "efficient breach" require a no-fault regime? What is the proper role of victims’ contributory fault?

In exploring these and related issues, the symposium intends to bring together a variety of perspectives. While many of the contributions to the symposium are from experts in the study of law-and-markets, prominently utilizing the "law and economics" perspective, other views—some of which are strongly opposed to the economic approach—will also be included.

The conference, which was organized by Frank and Bernice Greenberg Professor of Law Omri Ben-Shahar and Fischel-Neil Visiting Professor of Law Ariel Porat, is sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School and the John M. Olin Center for Law and Economics at the University of Michigan. Recordings of many of the talks will be made available on the Law School website, and the papers will be published in the June 2009 issue of the Michigan Law Review. An expanded volume collection will be published later by Cambridge University Press.