The Shire — Where Promises Are Kept Without Lawyers
Contract law begins where all journeys begin — in the ordinary world. Before Gandalf’s mark appeared on Bilbo’s door, the hobbits of the Shire kept their promises without thinking about it. A handshake at the Green Dragon, a delivery of pipe-weed, a standing order at the mill — these were contracts, though no hobbit would have called them that.
In Module I, we ask two foundational questions: What is contract law? and What is a contract? Chapter 1 introduces the field — the law of promises, voluntary and private, built on four justifications (efficiency, reliance, fairness, autonomy). Chapter 2 unpacks the building blocks: promise, agreement, bargain, and the objective theory that governs them all.
By the end of this module, you will understand that contract law does not require a “meeting of the minds” — it requires a manifestation of mutual assent judged by an objective standard.
Module outcomes
By the end of this module, you can:
- State what a contract is under R2d § 1 and identify the elements a court asks about before enforcing a promise.
- Distinguish legal remedies (damages) from equitable remedies (specific performance, injunction) and explain when each is available.
- Apply the objective theory of contracts to decide whether a reasonable person would have understood a manifestation as serious intent to be bound.
- Identify when the UCC governs (transactions in goods) and when the common law and Restatement (Second) govern.
- Read a fact pattern and locate the candidate promises, the parties, and the consideration before any doctrine is applied.