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Where the Action Is: Macro and Micro Justice in Contract Law
Author(s) -
Tan Zhong Xing
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.12518
Subject(s) - distributive justice , macro , distributive property , law and economics , economic justice , nothing , sociology , law , action (physics) , bridge (graph theory) , economics , business , political science , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , mathematics , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics , programming language
In contemporary private law theory the relationship between ‘macro’ theories of distributive justice and the ‘micro’ site of interpersonal transactions remains under‐explored. In this paper, I draw on the ‘macro’ theory of justice articulated by John Rawls and offer an account of ‘micro contractual justice’ that helps us understand how the micro domains of contracting introduce particular relational constraints on the infusion of distributive considerations into contract law, resulting in constrained conception of ‘relational Rawlsianism’ operating in contractual domains. My framework provides a bridge between the macro and micro, helping us understand how they are in various senses separate yet interlocking, and also provides a ‘third way’ between all or nothing positions on the place of distributive justice in contract.