Includes index.

1. Some perennial problems --
2. Contemporary solutions.
Case 1: promises of gifts.
Case 2: promises of compensation for services rendered without charge.
Case 3: promises to pay debts not legally due.
Case 4: a promise to come to dinner.
Case 5: promises to store goods without charge.
Case 6: promises to do a favour.
Case 7: promises to loan goods without a charge.
Case 8: a requirements contract.
Case 9: promises to pay more than was agreed I.
Case 10: promises to pay more than was agreed II.
Case 11. Promises to do more than was agreed: promises to waive a condition.
Case 12: promises to take less than was agreed.
Case 13: options given without a charge.
Case 14: promises of rewards.
Case 15: promises of commissions --
3. Comparison.

Civil law and common law systems are held to enforce promises differently: civil law, in principle, will enforce any promise, while common law will enforce only those with 'consideration'. In that respect, modern civil law supposedly differs from the Roman law from which it descended, where a promise was enforced depending on the type of contract the parties had made. This 2001 volume is concerned with the extent to which these characterizations are true, and how these and other differences affect the enforceability of promises. Beginning with a concise history of these distinctions, the volume then considers how twelve European legal systems would deal with fifteen concrete situations. Finally, a comparative section considers why legal systems enforce certain promises and not others, and what promises should be enforced. This is the second completed project of The Common Core of European Private Law launched at the University of Trento.
• Exploration of the practical significance of formal legal distinctions
• Examination of fifteen concrete cases
• Examines twelve different European legal systems.