Contract Law: From Trust to Promise to Contract (HLS2X) | Introduction | Trust
July 21, 2020
Contract Law: From
Trust to Promise to Contract (HLS2X)
Introduction |Trust
Instructor Charles Fried, Beneficial
Professor of Law:
My re-written lecture notes for Introduction, Communication, Agreement, Understanding, and Trust hyperlink: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ar6iJPTO61dwxAGgqQGESZS1bWnK?e=uDYjfN
In our previous lessons, we have observed famous artists paintings and pictures of people coordinated activities; in order for them to resolve or deal with successfully from their communications, agreements, and understandings between two (2) or more parties such as:
·
those eight (8) college students
who are sculling through the water inside of their thin boat rowing with their
oars through the water in a circular
rhythmic coordination
synchronized motions into conformities together;
·
the Babylonian people attempting to
build a “Tower of Babel” in order to reach God in heaven by ways of one (1)
spoken language coordinated activities until, God had caused all Babylonian people
to speak in different languages which eventually stop their building coordinated
activities in communications, agreements and understandings
from one (1) spoken language in building the Tower of Babel;
·
those women must watch each other’s
footstep and body transmitted rhythm communications from their coordinated
moves synchronized together; and
· those jazz orchestra or quartet musicians who has synchronized their rhythmic sounds coordination together must have an understanding through music notes communications with one (1) another from an uniformity in instruments’ agreement sounds.
Those famous artists paintings and pictures had illustrated people in their canvases and photographs in which, each person involved had performed in some type of a coordinated activities harmoniously functioning together, as parts of a[n] communications, agreements, and understandings depending on a number of contributive results or outcomes between two (2) or more parties.
Now, trade can be a
coordinated activity,
as well. In the era of the Pilgrim fathers numerous of people such as, adults,
children and strangers would come in a harmonious trade functions together, as
part of a coordinated activities in communications, agreements, and understandings for an
effective exchange in goods and services between two (2) or more parties. And,
we have all seen those wonderful images of paintings of the “The First
Thanksgiving,” as shown below where the Pilgrim fathers who had arrived to
America territory laying out their axes, trinkets and knives onto the table
and, the Native American Indians are bringing them produces and fresh meats to
eat, as meals. Also, the Pilgrim fathers would coordinate trade exchanges
with the Native American Indians without knowing each other’s languages for communications by ways of either a handshake, or a
yes or no head movement gestures to indicate neutral agreements and understandings during their acted trade activities.
Let us analyzes in our next picture image example below, a more contemporary kind of coordinated trade activities between two (2) parties.
Now, let us imagine there are two (2) best friends
in our picture image shown above. And, let us suppose the one (1) of the best
friend who is located on the left-side of the picture image is a really great
sandal-maker. Remember, you will have to stretch your imagination a little bit towards
your analytical thought processes between coordinated trades amongst
two (2) best friends. And, the best friend located on the left-side of the
picture image have five (5) pairs of custom made sandals and, you are
his best friend located on the right-side of the picture image in which, you have
one (1) pair of custom made boots. And, you have wanted, your best friend five
(5) pairs of custom made sandals in an exchange for your one (1) pair of custom
made boots and, you and your best friend have established a coordinated trade
activity; in order for you and your best friend to resolve and deal with
successfully from you and your best friend communication,
agreement, and understanding
with one (1) another, as shown in our below image.
On the other hand, you and your best friend have established a coordinated trade activity with one (1) another is a limited form of cooperation which is quite limiting your best friend from receiving his one (1) pair of custom made boots from you in which, you have not yet made your best friend one (1) pair of custom made boots causing an unbalance from you and your best friend coordinated trade activity in time. Likewise, collaboration have a similar effects on your coordinated trade activity is quite limited, as well because you will be the only one (1) creating or making your best friend one (1) pair of custom made boots instead of you and your best friend who are involved into a shared activities towards making your best friend one (1) pair of custom made boots known as, a shared creation of two (2) or more individuals with complementary skillsets interactions are defined as, collaboration.
You and your best friend coordinated trade activity is known as, a primitive trade, as shown below.
We, as humans are excellent planners and, we plan by ways of thought and, not from instinct, as bears does; in order to acquire their approaching winter body fat. As humans, we can coordinate our communications, agreements, and understandings activities from our plan thoughts.
Now, let us return
back to our coordinated trade activity picture image example, as shown below. And, let us
complicate our coordinated trade activities a little bit in our
online lecture analyses and, let us suppose, you have not yet made, your best
friend one (1) pair of custom made boots and, you only make, your custom made
boots during the winter months.
However, you want your best friend custom made five
(5) pairs of sandals for your whole family, now, in the month of June. And,
your best friend is willing to trade with you for his custom made five (5)
pairs of sandals from an agreement in which, he had just made with you from a coordinated
trade activity for your custom made one (1) pair of boots.
And, you are in need of your best friend custom made five (5) pairs of sandals and, you do not want to wait until October when you will be able to complete making your best friend one (1) pair of custom made boots in a coordinated trade activity and, your best friend custom made pair of boots will take a long time to produce or make. After all, your best friend custom made one (1) pair of boots will be done in a very high-level quality, as illustrated below.
And, what a pity, if you and
your whole family lose their vacation time at the beach because you have not
custom made your best friend one (1) pair of boots, yet; in what is call a coordinated
primitive trade swap. In fact, you are willing to offer your best friend, a
couple pairs of heavy-duty socks with his custom-made pair of boots, as an
incentive. If your best friend waits until October when you have completed
making your best friend one (1) pair of custom-made boots. In order to
encourage your coordinated primitive trade now, in the month of June. If your best
friend is willing to give, you his custom made five (5) pairs of sandals, now.
And, you are willing to wait until October will only delay your coordinated
primitive trade swap with your best friend, as illustrated below.
Similarly, to the Pilgrim fathers and the Native American Indians who[m] had coordinated primitive trade activities with one (1) another is what economists call, a Deadweight Loss.
A Deadweight Loss is a cost to society, as a whole that is generated by an economically inefficient allocation of resources within the market. Deadweight loss can also be referred to as “excess burden.”[3]
In
our below illustrated example, you and your family will lose a whole season
vacating at the beach, and your best friend will lose his couple pairs of heavy-duty
socks, as an incentive with his custom-made pair of boots from you and your
best friend coordinated primitive trade activity overtime. What we need to do
is cooperate; in order to develop a coordinated primitive trade activity;
similar to those eight (8) college students who are sculling through the water
inside of their thin boat rowing with their oars. However, the college eight
(8) students this time is not simultaneously rowing in a circular rhythmic coordination
synchronized motions together, but over time and, quite a long stretch of time.
As, in your custom made one (1) pair of boots produced or made in October for
your best friend in an exchange for your best friend custom made five (5) pairs
of sandals for your family, now, is measure over time. And, your best friend
must trust you when winter comes; after, his custom made one (1) pair of boots
had been finished and, you will let him have his custom made one (1) pair of
boots when the product is due; in order to complete you and your best friend coordinated
primitive trade swap.
Now, your promise is not enough for your best friend to hear, you say, you might have his custom made one (1) pair of boots ready from him by October. You must provide your best friend with neutral agreement of assurance and, your best friend will have to believe you. Your best friend must Trust you.
Do you remember the word trust in our previous lesson?
In our picture image example
below, we have a woman who falls backwards from the top of a white block
because she had trusted, the
man behind her to catch her fall. And, the woman is so sure, the man behind her
will catch her fall off the white block, she is willing to risk bodily injuries
from her falling backwards; in hope that the man behind her will catch her fall
off the white block than his trust is indispensable (absolutely
necessary).
Trust is an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.[5]
Trust is one of those words that make our world go around. And, trust requires human planning and, planning is coordination which we resolved, or dealt with successfully from our communications, agreements, and understandings over time. Also, trust allows human coordinated activities to start off the ground towards communication, agreement and understanding. How do we structure our trust? And, how do we build with trust? Your best friend is not just going to hand over those custom five (5) pairs of sandals to you, as a gift; in hope that comes October, you will be similarly generous in regards to your custom made one (1) pair of boots. In the very least you must know, your best friend will need, your custom made one (1) pair of boots. And, even your trust is not enough for your best friend who is relying on your custom made one (1) pair of boots. You must make some kind of commitment with your best friend in order to invoke [call] trust with him, not just in hope that you will become generous or kind towards your best friend custom made one (1) pair of boots, you have produced from a coordinated primitive trade. And, come October, you will think of your best friend and, you will want to keep him warm and dry for the winter.
In our next illustrated picture image below, we make, our commitment is to promise, as part of making the world go around.
And, if you did not noticed in which, your best friend needed your custom made one (1) pair of boots for the winter, or did you notice and, did not care, even if your best friend reminded, you about your promise, you have committed to him back in June when your best friend had a coordinated primitive trade agreement for his custom five (5) pairs of sandals. None of your coordinated communications with your best friend is not enough to allow your best friend to trust you to give him, your custom made one (1) pair of boots in October. However, if you have promised, you would have your best friend custom made one (1) pair of boots ready in October than your best friend is justified in a coordinated communication by saying, he trusts you. So, a promise is a great human invention. The wheel is an invention and, a promise is an invention, but a different kind of invention still a promise is an invention.
We, as a society has climb up to a higher level of interactions and, your best friend has promised to put sandals onto my family feet in the summer and, you have promised, your best friend a couple pairs of heavy-duty socks, as an incentive with his custom-made pair of boots; if your best friend will wait until October; after, you have produced his custom-made one (1) pair of boots because promise has lead you and your best friend to trust one (1) another. And, trust allowed, you and your best friend to coordinate activities with one (1) another, not like those rowers in the college eight (8), but overtime.
We can plan because we can know, what to expect from each other and, not only from our coordinated activities in communications, agreements, and understandings from moment to moment, as with the coordinated primitive trade activity between two (2) friends that occurred over a long stretches of time. And, cooperation is our neutral understanding that allows us to work together. What allows us to coordinate our activities over a long period of time is trust, promise and commitment are agents of cooperation.
Promises are, in turn, of course is made up of speech and, neutral understanding. And, we have assumed, our speech and, neutral understanding such as, “I promise” (in a legal sense) is one (1) of those commitment, we say to each other to make coordination happens.
[1]
“The Frist Thanksgiving.” First Thanksgiving Meal, A & E Television
Networks, LLC,
18 Nov
2011, https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-8/cite-digital-image-mla-8/.
[2]
Maurer, Benjamin. Unknown. HarvardX: HLS2X Contract Law: from Trust to Promise
to Contract,
Charles Fried, edX, Trust, https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Harvardx+HLS2X+2T2020/courseware/Intro/96e9097c75d1478d9f9be63386dcc897/1?activate_block_id=block-v1%3AHarvardx%2BHLS2X%2B2T2020%2Btype%40video%2Bblock%401255a83e8af8441c82af5b0bf67f2596.
[3]
Agarwai, Prateel. “Deadweight Loss.” Intelligent Economist,
18
March 2020, https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/deadweight-loss/.
[4]
Teck, Dan. I’ve Got Your Back. 2016. Halfway Up The Mountain,
https://www.halfwayupthemountain.com/2016/03/30/ive-got-back/trust-fall/.
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