ABSTRACT

Contract and tort are almost two different world views. Contracts are built on a system of honour and duty; in the civil law system, contracts are called obligations. People are expected to uphold their end of the bargain—which the good guy, in fiction, feels morally compelled to do. Torts are about those who do wrong and their victims; contracts are about partners. The necessary elements of a contract are offer, acceptance, and consideration: one party makes an offer, the other party accepts, and there is an exchange, a tit for tat. As in life, in literature contracts broadly conceived are ubiquitous. There is an implicit contract between the writer and the reader. Contracts can be evil and destructive. Contracts can be regretted. Agreeing to bad deals and living with the consequences are a recurring element in literary works.