美国资本主义经济发展中的契约自由与合同法

Freedom of Contract and Law of Contract in the Development of U.S. Capitalist Economics

合同法是美国法律体系中最重要的柱石之一 ,契约自由是美国资本主义社会的一个重要标志。但美国合同法走过的历史道路也许不能简单地概括为从意愿论的胜利到合同的死亡。 2 0世纪的美国合同法面临重重挑战 :立法入侵、行政机构权力的扩大、大公司的发展、经济的复杂化和不确定性、社会各阶层对公平的要求。为了应对这些挑战 ,美国合同法进行了重大调整。这些调整最重要的目标就是使合同法具有适应社会经济变化的更大的灵活性和更高的公平标准。

The law of contract is one of the most important pillars in the American legal system,and the freedom of contract is an important symbol of American capitalist society.But the historical road which the American law of contract has followed perhaps cannot be simply summarized as from the victory of will theory to the death of contract.The American law of contract in the 20~th century has confronted many challenges:legislative encroachment,extending of administrative powers,development of large corporations,economic complexity and uncertainty and the demand of impartiality from different social stratums.In order to deal with these challenges,the American law of contract has carried out tremendous adjustments.The most important purpose of these adjustments is to enable the law of contract to have more flexibility and higher standard of impartiality to suit the social and economic changes.