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Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Most contracts–especially buyer-supplier contracts–are transactional contracts. But should they be? That is the question that more and more academics are researching.

The concept of relational contracting practices has been studied for almost 70 years. Legal scholars Stewart Macaulay and Ian Macneil were early advocates in the 1960s. Macneil actually coined the term “relational contract” in a 1968 book. Ian R. Macneil, Contracts: Instruments for Social Cooperation, East Africa (Hackensack, N.J.: F.B. Rothman 1968).

Their work has inspired dozens (if not hundreds) of research studies from some of the most influential legal, economic, social, and psychology thinkers around the world. See also, David Campbell, The Relational Theory of Contract: Selected Works of Ian Macneil (Sweet & Maxwell 2001).