Property and contract: where are we?

This chapter undertakes an examination of proprietary and contractual rights, with particular

reference to, first, the claim that the concept of property is disintegrating and, second, the idea

that English law generally recognises a duty to perform a contract. The two principal conclusions

which are drawn are: first, that the division between property rights and contract rights at the

primary level, particularly in terms of amenability to specific relief, remains as stark as ever; and,

second, that at the secondary level the division between the two categories of rights is being

broken down by a broader process of assimilation of remedial rights.