What is it about?
This article examines the role of a particular area of the law of contract in a specific commercial context involving the relationship of a general building contractor and a sub-contractor. The focus is upon the formation of agreement through the submission of bids to carry out work put out to tender. An empirical examination of the attitudes of these builders to the tendering procedure has been carried out and is related to proposals to change the law on "firm offers". To what extent do those in business rely on legal sanction as a method of guaranteeing the expectations to which a promise may give rise?
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Why is it important?
The aim of this article is to provide a case study for Weber's discussion of the extent that the law of contract is required to support the development of commercial relations in a market economy. This article forms part of a limited literature empirically examining the use and non-use of law by the business community. It also reflects upon the legitimising force of the general principles of classical contract law.
Perspectives
The article is one of the earliest examples of emprical research into the law of contract in the UK. It was published in (1982) 9 Journal of Law and Society 153 – 175.
Professor Richard Lewis
Cardiff University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Contracts between Businessmen: Reform of the Law of Firm Offers and an Empirical Study of Tendering Practices in the Building Industry, January 1982, JSTOR,
DOI: 10.2307/1410173.
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