Introduction to Contract, Status, and Fiduciary Law

Contractual and fiduciary relationships are the two primary mechanisms through which the law facilitates coordinated pursuit of our personal interests. Contract and fiduciary law are fields often represented in oppositional terms. Many believe that while contract law allows individuals to pursue their interests independently, fiduciary law allows them to pursue their interests in a dependent or interdependent way. This view seems to suggest that the boundaries between contract and fiduciary law are fixed rather than fluid. Bringing together leading theorists to analyze important philosophical questions at the intersection of contract and fiduciary law, Contract, Status, and Fiduciary Law demonstrates that popular characterizations of the relationship between contract and fiduciary law are overly simplistic. By considering how contract and fiduciary law interact, and not just how they differ, the contributors to this volume offer new insights into a range of topics, including: status relationships, voluntary undertakings, duties of loyalty, equity, employment law, tort law, the law of remedies, political theory, and the theory of the firm. This introductory essay provides an overview of the contributions to the volume, indicating their significance for our understanding of relationships between contract and fiduciary law