Engaging With Engagement Analysing Formation of Promises, Contracts Voluntary Obligations in

Scotland does not have a 'law of contract', as most comparable jurisdictions do, but rather - due in large part to the intellectual innovations of Viscount Stair - possesses a unitary 'law of voluntary obligations', of which contracts form but a part. This fact is highly significant, but is frequently overlooked. Indeed, the significance of this has even been overlooked by the Scottish Law Commission, who have recently proposed to significantly reform the 'law of contract' in Scotland by urging the passing of a statute which, among other things, would abolish the so-called 'postal acceptance rule'. This short book takes the view that the proposed reforms are wrongheaded and would be deleterious to the coherence of the Scottish legal framework. To that end, it examines the taxonomy of obligations pioneered by Stair, indicates that the application of that taxonomy to situations such as the process of contracting by distance suggests that there is in fact no 'postal acceptance rule' in this jurisdiction and suggests, in light of this, that reform of 'contracts' and the formation of, in Scotland, is better left to the courts and jurists than to the Scottish Parliament (or, for that matter, Westminster).

About the author

Dr. Jonathan Brown is a Lecturer in Scots Private Law at the University of Strathclyde.

Product details

• Authors: Jonathan Brown
• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Content: Book
• Product form: Hardback
• Publication date: 03.03.2026
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Law > Civil law, civil procedural law
• EAN: 9781839996511
• ISBN: 978-1-83999-651-1
• Pages: 132
• Series: Anthem Studies in Law Reform
• Subjects: Engagement, Law, Scotland, LAW / Civil Law, LAW / Jurisprudence, LAW / Contracts, Jurisprudence, Contract formation, Legal Theory, Law Reform, Systems of law: mixed systems, Law of Obligations / legal duties, comparative contract law, Scots Law; Voluntary Obligations; Contract Formation; Scottish Law Commission; Law Reform; Legal Coherence; Viscount Stair; Institutions of the Law of Scotland; Act of the Will; Engagement; Common Law Development; Postal Acceptance Rule; Electronic C, Electronic Contracts, common law development, Voluntary Obligations, Institutions of the Law of Scotland, Legal Coherence, Obligations Law, Email and Text Contracts, Act of the Will, Viscount Stair, Scottish Law Commission, Postal Acceptance Rule, Statutory Reform Critique