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Insincere Promises: The Law of Misrepresented Intent

Online ISBN:
9780300127133
Print ISBN:
9780300106756
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Insincere Promises: The Law of Misrepresented Intent

Published:
11 June 2005
Online ISBN:
9780300127133
Print ISBN:
9780300106756
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

How can a promise be a lie? Answer: when the promisor never intended to perform the promise. Such incidences of promissory fraud are frequently litigated because they can result in punitive damages awards, and an insincere promisor can even be held criminally liable. Yet courts have provided little guidance about what the scope of liability should be or what proof should be required. This book—devoted to the analysis of promissory fraud—answers these questions. Filled with examples of insincere promising from the case law as well as from literature and popular culture, it is an indispensable guide for those who practice or teach contract law, and explores what promises say from the perspectives of philosophy, economics, and the law. The authors identify four chief mistakes that courts make in promissory fraud cases, and offer a theory for how courts and practitioners should handle promissory fraud cases.

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