Ayres, Klass, and Stone's Studies in Contract Law, 10th

In the Tenth Edition of Studies in Contract Law, the authors have continued their work of streamlining, updating, and supplementing this classic casebook. The revision includes:

• Several changes to help teachers who want to address race in the context of contract law including:
  • A case in the introductory Chapter One that addresses Georgia’s post-Civil War Labor Contract Act, which was used to subjugate freed slaves
  • New historical materials attached to Williams v. Walker-Thomas, the landmark unconscionability case, emphasizing the role of race in the market Mrs. Williams found herself in
  • A new section in Chapter Five that covers discrimination law as it applies to contract. Here the emphasis is on race, but gender discrimination is also discussed.
• New materials addressing topical issues, including:
  • A comment on NDA clauses in the #metoo era
  • A pandemic-based frustration case, where a coffee shop argued it should get out of its lease with the landlord due to government action preventing its business from operating
  • A paragraph on Disney’s Contract Clause claim against Florida Gov. DeSantis
• Updates to incorporate amendments to Article Two of the UCC, the new Restatement of Consumer Contract Law, new rules on non-competes, as well as other legislative changes or proposals
• Some significantly revamped sections:
  • New materials in Chapter Six on specific performance.
  • Major changes to improve Chapter Seven, which covers third-party beneficiaries and assignment and delegation.
• Minor changes throughout to improve comprehensibility, such as reordering some materials and improving explanatory text

Ayres has now recorded more than 90 contract law videos that will be freely available for viewing on Coursera.com and YouTube (search for “Ian Ayres Contracts”). These videos are largely free-standing discussions of individual cases from the casebook and can be used as supplemental lectures or to “flip the classroom.” Ayres has also recorded more than 30 videos, also freely available on these platforms (search for “Ayres Law Students toolkits”), covering basic legal concepts (e.g., rules vs. standards) and techniques (e.g., how to brief a case) that might be useful for first-year students.