As part of an ongoing project, this book provides a counterbalance to the traditional focus on judicial decisions by exploring the contribution of legal scholars to the development of private law.

In the present volume, the work of a selection of leading scholars of commercial law, ranging from Viscount Stair (1619–1695) to Sir Roy Goode (1933–), is addressed by contemporary academics in the field. The focus is on the nature of the work produced by the scholars in question, important influences on their work, and the impact which that work in turn had on thinking about commercial law. The book also includes an introductory chapter by the editors and an afterword by Sir David Foxton that explore connections between the scholars and recurrent themes.

The process of subjecting commercial law scholarship to sustained analysis provides new insights into the intellectual development of commercial law and reveals the central role played by scholars in that process. And by focusing attention on the work of influential commercial law scholars, the book serves to emphasise the importance of legal scholarship to the development of the common law more generally.

James Goudkamp is Professor of the Law of Obligations at the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, UK.
Donal Nolan is Professor of Private Law at the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, UK.