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Schedule Registration Housing |
| Saturday, January 8, 2000 8:30-10:15 a.m. |
Marriott Ballroom Salon II
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Lobby Level |
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Joint Program of Sections on Contracts, Law and
Anthropology, and Minority Groups |
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| Deborah Waire Post, Touro College, and Chair and Program Chair, Section on Contracts | |
| Peter Sevareid, Temple University, and Chair, Section on Law and Anthropology | |
| Bernadette Weston Hartfield, Georgia State University, and Chair, Section on Minority Groups |
| Common Sense and Contract Law |
| (Program to be published in Touro Law Review) |
| Moderator: | |
| Thomas Wuil Joo, University of California at Davis | |
| Speakers: | |
| John M. Conley, University of North Carolina
Shubha Ghosh, Georgia State University Beverly Horsburgh, St. Thomas University Lenora P. Ledwon, St. Thomas University |
|
This program will be a roundtable discussion of the topic "common sense and
contract law" from an interdisciplinary perspective. The inspiration for this roundtable was
the line in Judge Easterbrook's decision in Hill
v. Gateway 2000, "What's the sense in
that!" (should a manufacturer/seller have to disclose the existence of an arbitration
agreement at the time that goods are ordered). Judge Easterbrook's exclamation has been read
by some of us as an invocation of that amorphous but ubiquitious concept—common sense.
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| Although it is certainly tempting to assume that Judge Easterbrook is using common sense as a synonym for "efficiency," the participants in this roundtable bring the concepts, theoretical constructs and analytical tools of other disciplines to this discussion of the meaning and significance of common sense to the resolution of contract disputes. Professor Ghosh will examine common sense in light of emerging theories in law and economics: common sense performing the semiotic function of norm seeding or the use of common sense to explain (or solve) coordination and information problems in contracting with the respect to new technology. Professor Ledwon will employ literary theory to consider whether the invocation of common sense signals a failure of imagination, a lack of empathy or an unresolvable ambiguity. Professor Conley brings an anthropologist's insights to the table, applying the methodology of socio-linguistics to law and language, the creation and use of cultural tropes in legal discourse. He compares the "Cheyenne Way" and the anthropological concepts that might have inspired Karl Llewellyn to the current use of common sense to explain or justify legal rules. Finally, Professor Horsburgh will discuss the implications on social or cognitive psychology for those who seek to explain legal decisions in terms of common sense. |
| Business Meeting of Section on Contracts at Program Conclusion |
| Business Meeting of Section on Law and Anthropology at Program Conclusion |