ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the structural coupling between law and economics, contract and the private autonomy it reflects, as a possible source of justification for private enforcement. The origins of private autonomy as a source of justification for dispute resolution can be traced back to Roman law and to the rekindled interest in contract in the eighteenth century. As technology offers alternative ways of enforcement without state control, the acceptability of consent as a justificatory narrative transforms into a question about the limits of consent. The chapter focuses on consent in the framework of contractual law, as individual expression of intent, which is considered to be legally relevant. The importance of consent becomes apparent especially in alternative dispute resolution, which in itself describes the justificatory narrative's complementary nature in justifying dispute resolution. Consent becomes fictional when there are no alternative redress mechanisms, providing only a form without content.
