R2d § 1
Contract Defined
A contract is a promise or a set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy, or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty.
Professor's notes
Two-part definition. A contract is (1) a promise or set of promises (2) for which the law supplies a remedy on breach or recognizes a duty in performance. The remedial focus is the spine. Contract law is not about which promises are morally weighty; it is about which promises courts will back with coercive enforcement.
Hawkins v. McGee operationalizes the remedial side: the doctor's express warranty of a perfect hand is a promise; the remedy is expectation damages measured by the gap between promised result and delivered result.
Common misunderstanding: students treat "contract" as synonymous with "writing" or "deal." Section 1 makes neither necessary. A promise plus a recognized remedy is the whole structure. Everything else: formation, defenses, performance, remedies: sits inside this frame.
Cases that operationalize this rule
Section 1 supplies the Restatement’s functional definition of contract. Its emphasis on legal consequences distinguishes enforceable promises from moral commitments, social understandings, and precatory language. The provision also frames contract law as a remedial system rather than merely a theory of private obligation.