Friedrich Kessler
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Kessler was an American law professor who taught at Yale Law School
(1935–1938, 1947–1970), University of Chicago Law School
, and University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He was a contract law scholar, but also wrote of trade regulation law. He was regarded as a member of the American Legal Realism
School.
Born in Hechingen, Germany in 1901, he received his law degree from the University of Berlin in 1928. He was a research member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Foreign and International Law in Berlin until 1934, when he fled Germany to avoid Nazi persecution—his wife Eva Jonas was Jewish. Friedrich Kessler died on January 21, 1998, in Berkeley, CA.
His most celebrated article, Contracts of Adhesion—Some Thoughts About Freedom of Contract, coined the phrase "contract of adhesion" to describe a contract between parties of greatly unequal bargaining power, such that the dominant party could impose a "take it or leave it" demand on the weaker party. He argued that in such situations Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century concepts of freedom of contract were unrealistic and should be discarded. Kessler saw such contracts as mocking freedom of contract, making it "a one-sided privilege,” in which the historical evolution of the law from status to contract was reversed--a movement "greatly facilitated by the fact that the belief in freedom of contract has remained one of the firmest axioms in the whole fabric of the social philosophy of our culture.”
Others, among his many articles, were:
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
(1935–1938, 1947–1970), University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
, and University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He was a contract law scholar, but also wrote of trade regulation law. He was regarded as a member of the American Legal Realism
Legal realism
Legal realism is a school of legal philosophy that is generally associated with the culmination of the early-twentieth century attack on the orthodox claims of late-nineteenth-century classical legal thought in the United States...
School.
Born in Hechingen, Germany in 1901, he received his law degree from the University of Berlin in 1928. He was a research member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Foreign and International Law in Berlin until 1934, when he fled Germany to avoid Nazi persecution—his wife Eva Jonas was Jewish. Friedrich Kessler died on January 21, 1998, in Berkeley, CA.
His most celebrated article, Contracts of Adhesion—Some Thoughts About Freedom of Contract, coined the phrase "contract of adhesion" to describe a contract between parties of greatly unequal bargaining power, such that the dominant party could impose a "take it or leave it" demand on the weaker party. He argued that in such situations Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century concepts of freedom of contract were unrealistic and should be discarded. Kessler saw such contracts as mocking freedom of contract, making it "a one-sided privilege,” in which the historical evolution of the law from status to contract was reversed--a movement "greatly facilitated by the fact that the belief in freedom of contract has remained one of the firmest axioms in the whole fabric of the social philosophy of our culture.”
Others, among his many articles, were:
- Natural Law, Justice and Democracy—Some Reflections on Three Types of Thinking About Law and Justice, 19 Tulane L. Rev. 32, 52 (1944)
- Automobile Dealer Franchises: Vertical Integration by Contract, 66 Yale L. J. 1135 (1957).
- Contract, Competition, and Vertical Integration, 69 Yale L.J. 1 (1959) (with Richard H. SternRichard H. SternRichard H. Stern is an attorney and law professor.Born in New York City, Stern received an A.B. cum laude from Columbia College in 1953 and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Columbia University School of Engineering in 1954. He served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1956, then returned to...
) - Culpa in Contrahendo, Bargaining in Good Faith, and Freedom of Contract: A Comparative Study, 77 Harv. L. Rev. 401 (1964) (with Edith Fine)
Further reading
- Christian Joerges, Demos vs. Ethnos in Private Law: Friedrich Kessler and his German Heritage, 104 Yale L. J. 2137 (1995).
- Anthony T. KronmanAnthony T. KronmanAnthony Townsend Kronman is a Sterling Professor at Yale Law School specialized in contracts, bankruptcy, jurisprudence, social theory, and professional responsibility. He was the Dean of Yale Law School from 1994 to 2004.-Biography:...
, My Senior Partner, 104 Yale L. J. 2129 (1995). - John K. McNulty, A Student’s Tribute to Fritz Kessler, 104 Yale L. J. 2133 (1995).
- John K. McNulty, Dedicated to Friedrich Kessler Upon His Eightieth Birthday, August 25, 1981, Yale L. Rep., Winter 1981-82, at 13.