In Defense of ‘Unbridled’ Freedom of Contract

Eric Mack

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1981, vol. 40, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract. The doctrine of freedom of contract, viz., that each person should have the liberty to enter into and the right to insist on the fulfillment of any rights‐respecting contract, is defined and defended as an implication of a Lockean emphasis on natural rights. This natural rights perspective requires the rejection of all collective social goal theories, e.g., utilitarianism, and the rejection of objections to freedom of contract which proceed from such theories. Four specific objections to freedom of contract, each of which appears to flow from an individualistic emphasis on freedom and rights, are considered. But each of these is dismissed either for misconceiving the nature of freedom or for involving an underlying appeal to some implausible social goal theory.

Date: 1981
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