The common law of contracts: are broad principles better than detailed rules? An empirical investigation

In this article we report the results of three experiments involving the participation of 1800 subjects (law students and non-law students) in the resolution of disputes and the evaluation of judgments, using three different law models: (1) the common law of contracts (Case Law); (2) UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, a model code published by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law in 1994 (UPICC); (3) the Australian Contract Code, a model code, written by us, and published by the Law Reform Victoria in 1992 (ACC). The research on which this article is based was prompted by our interest in codification of Australian contract law. In order to demonstrate its relevance to the jurisprudential debate, it is necessary to give some description of each of these three models.