This course will examine the idea and methodology of making and enforcing contracts and the terms within which law allows parties to set the scope and the character of their own obligations. We will examine contract formation, how one determines the terms of the obligation, what differences exist among different fields of contacting, and how contracting occurs in modern commerce. The primary focus will be on basics of contract law and practice, but we will also consider comparative law issues resulting from differences among common law and other traditions, as well as from international sources of law such as the Convention on the International Sale of Goods, the UNIDROIT Principles of International Contract Law, and the various uniform laws adopted and enforced in the United States.