Article by Wayne Barnes
The question that this Article raises is, Does the French subjective theory, while conceptually distinct from the objective theory, produce significantly different outcomes in actual disputes? While France would alone be a significant enough world citizen to warrant consideration of this question, the reality is that the French Civil Code has been widely adopted and copied in many of the civil law nations throughout the world. So, it affects a significant portion of the world's jurisdictions, beyond that of just the sovereign nation of France. Therefore, this Article will undertake an examination of the objective theory of contracts, as well as the evidence of the French subjective theory, and ascertain whether there is a profound difference in their application and results of legal disputes in the two systems. Part II will discuss the principles of the objective theory of contracts. Part III will discuss the French subjective theory of contracts, some of its distinctive rules, and a comparative analysis of those rules when compared with Anglo-American objective theory. Part IV will conclude with the observation that the differences in philosophy between the two sets of systems at issue, while certainly not irrelevant, do not result in the exceedingly different outcomes that one might otherwise initially suspect.
About the Author
Wayne Barnes. Professor of Law, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. J.D., Texas Tech University School of Law; B.B.A., University of North Texas.
Citation
83 Tul. L. Rev. 359 (2008)