ABSTRACT
Any consideration of how Law in Action studies in the field of contract might contribute to a pedagogy of contract has to begin with the groundbreaking work of Stewart Macaulay. This chapter details engagement involves using contract doctrine as a straw concept. The position taken is that the contextual approach and the formalist approach are opposing forces which must be chosen between. The chapter examines in detail Macaulay’s foundational 1963 article. It looks at the observations and social norms that subsequent Law in Action scholarship in contract has generated and identify how they might enrich the teaching of contract law. The chapter also looks at some empirical, perhaps better described as attitudinal, studies in contract that focus on ideas of theoretical significance. Macaulay began his 1963 empirical work with a definition of contract that most lawyers would recognize as being broadly within the legal canon.
