Where the Action Is: Macro and Micro Justice in Contract Law |
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| Authors: | Zhong Xing Tan |
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| Affiliation: | Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. I am grateful to Andrew Halpin, James Penner, Mike Dowdle, Arie Rosen, Nicole Roughan, Justin Tan, Andrew Simester, Yip Man, Goh Yihan, Lusina Ho and other participants of the 2nd Asian Private Law Workshop (May 2019) held at Hong Kong University Faculty of Law for thoughts and comments on the project. My thanks are also due to the anonymous referees for their invaluable suggestions. The title of this paper takes a leaf out of the book of G.A. Cohen, ‘Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice’ (1997) 26 Philosophy and Public Affairs 3. |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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| Keywords: | Distributive justice Rawls contract law private law theory |
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