The Common Law of Obligations: Divergence and Unity

by Andrew Robertson, Michael Tilbury

Overview

The development of the law of obligations across the common law world has been, and continues to be, a story of unity and divergence. Its common origins continue to exert a powerful stabilising influence, carried forward by a methodology that places heavy weight on the historical foundations of legal principles. Divergence is, however, produced by numerous factors, including national and international human rights instruments, local statutory regimes, civil law influences, regional harmonisation, local circumstances and values and different political and legal cultures. The essays in this collection explore the forces that produce divergence, the countervailing forces that generate cohesion and consistency in the common law of obligations, and the influence that the major common law jurisdictions continue to exert over one another in this area of law.
The chapters in this book were originally presented at the Seventh Biennial Conference on the Law of Obligations held in Hong Kong in July 2014. A second collection, entitled Divergences in Private Law (ISBN: 9781782256601), will focus on particular departures from the common law mainstream and the causes and effects of those deviations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782256564
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/28/2016
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Andrew Robertson is Professor of Law and Director of Studies for Private Law at Melbourne Law School in the University of Melbourne.
Michael Tilbury is a Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School, formerly Kerry Holdings Professor in Private Law at the Faculty of Law in the University of Hong Kong.

Table of Contents

Preface v

List of Contributors ix

Table of Cases xi

Table of Legislation xxxi

Table of International Instruments xxxvii

1 Unity, Divergence and Convergence in the Common Law of Obligations Andrew Robertson Michael Tilbury 1

2 The Influence of Comparative Law on the English Law of Obligations Andrew Burrows 15

3 Unity, Then Divergence: The Privy Council, the Common Law of England and the Common Laws of Canada, Australia and New Zealand Paul Finn 37

4 A Conscious Effort to Develop a 'Different' Common Law of Obligations: A Possible Endeavour? Goh Yihan 63

5 A Common Law of Tort: Js there a European Rift in the Common Law Family? Paula Giliker 101

6 A Judicial Perspective on the Development of Common Law Doctrine in the Light of Statute Law Anthony Mason 119

7 Public Actors and Private Obligations: A Judicial Perspective Sian Elias 135

8 The Tort Liability of Public Authorities: A Comparative Analysis Peter Cane 153

9 We'll Meet Again: Convergence in the Private Law Treatment of Public Bodies Niamh Connolly 175

10 How to have a Common Private Law: The Presuppositions of Legal Conversation Allan Beever 215

11 The Philosophies of the Common Law and their Implications: Common Law Divergences, Public Authority Liability and the Future of a Common Law World Dan Priel 233

12 Obligations, Governance and Society: Bringing the State Back In TT Arvind 259

13 Divergent Evolution in the Law of Torts: Jurisdictional Isolation, Jurisprudential Divergence and Explanatory Theories James Goudkamp John Murphy 279

14 Common Law Values: The Role of Party Autonomy in Private Law Sarah Worthington 301

Index 323