Richard Stone, James Devenney. The Modern Law of Contract. , Routledge, 2013.

The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive but readable account of what we have termed ‘the modern law of contract’. By this we mean the law of contract as applied by the English courts in the early twenty­ first century. This we see as being still rooted in the forms of the classical theory of contract (which is generally accepted as dating from the late nineteenth century), but with those forms increasingly being stretched to adapt to the modern world. The inadequacies of the classical model that are thus exposed have been the subject of much commentary and analysis, together with suggestions of better models which might be adopted. Understanding the modern law requires an awareness of these critical analyses and this we have attempted to provide throughout the text. What results is not, however, and is not intended to be, a radical re­ reading of this area of law. A quick look at the chapter headings will show an overall structure that will be familiar to all contract lecturers. For the purposes of exposition, many familiar authorities have been used. Throughout, however, and in particular through the footnotes, we have tried to indicate ways in which the classical model of contract may be or is being challenged and developed, whether openly or surreptitiously. We hope that the result is a treatment of the law which is easy to follow (to the extent possible given the complexity of some areas) but which is also sufficiently rich to provide a challenge to more discerning readers. At the very least we hope that such readers will be encouraged to think about and explore new lines of thought on a variety of topics.