The relational justice of contracts

Abstract

The reductionist view of contractual phenomenon, typical of civil codes and classical contract law, is a result of a blur that, overestimating the voluntary agreement, undervalues the exchange. Trying to show the par-tial and inadequate character of that vision of contract law, contextual-ists or relationists proposals have emerged, focusing on the defence of the relational contract model. These theories suggest relational justice as a new paradigm. It transfers the relational approach of sociology to law, and incorporates the analysis of plural economic reciprocity. Rela-tional justice is formulated as a theory of justice (in the relationship), whose three elements (reciprocity, institutionality and sociality) offer a new theoretical framework where balances and imbalances that have shown the legal contractual reality throughout history can be contextu-alized.