'Linda Mulcahy and John Tillotson's Contract Law in Perspective claims to offer something different. The authors' aim is to complement black-letter analysis and give the student a wider understanding of Contract law by focusing on its social, economic and political context. Refreshingly, the text begins with an examination of the historical, theoretical and practical aspects of contract law. Chapter two is especially worthy of mention. It provides a hypothetical case study that features a wide range of legal issues rather than short questions concerned with one particular doctrine or issue. This case study is analysed not only in relation to the law but also in relation to wider issues that real life contractual relationships engender. That a practising lawyer was in involved with drafting parts of the text is evident. The text then moves on to more traditional topics, namely contract information, terms, vitiating factors, breach, remedies and, usually for a contract text, alternative dispute resolution. It analyses these issues in a basic manner but not in a non-traditional way by combining legal analysis with practical, economic and social considerations. One chapter is devoted solely to standard form contracts. Each chapter end with concluding remarks, a list of references and further reading, and a series of questions to consider An extremely welcome addition to the ever-increasing contract law text-book range.' 27th May 2005, Times Higher Educational Supplement
