Contract as normative regulation and its relation to the rule of law

In this chapter, I focus on the interaction between the rule of law and contract: the norm of the rule of law offers contract support for its legal form as an agreement between equals, while contract offers the rule of law a mechanism by which its normative generality can be established beyond the limits of formalized public law. To understand the power of the norms of the rule of law beyond the realm of formalized law, we need to understand how the mechanisms of contract both respond to the rule of law’s normative agenda, but also carry this agenda past the limits of formalized legality.