Contorts
Encyclopedia
Contorts is a portmanteau, or a combination of "contracts" and "torts" originated by Grant Gilmore
Grant Gilmore
Grant Gilmore was an American law professor who taught at Yale Law School, University of Chicago Law School, Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, and Vermont Law School...

 in his book The Death of Contract
The Death of Contract
The Death of Contract is a book by American law professor Grant Gilmore, written in 1974, about the history and development of the common law of contracts...

. The generally informal term refers to the continual or persistent "tortification" of Contract law. In other words, in recent years, principles from tort law increasingly have been applied to contract disputes and incorporated into the general body of contract law. The basis for "contorts" includes the widespread application of promissory estoppel (as a substitute for consideration
Consideration
Consideration is the central concept in the common law of contracts and is required, in most cases, for a contract to be enforceable. Consideration is the price one pays for another's promise. It can take a number of forms: money, property, a promise, the doing of an act, or even refraining from...

) and the awarding of punitive damages
Punitive damages
Punitive damages or exemplary damages are damages intended to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit...

 in breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....

 claims. Consequently, at least in certain aspects, strict and rigid conceptions of contract law and contractual relationships have been eroded or deemphasized in common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

.

Alternatively, "contorts" may simply refer to a fusion of contracts and torts law rather than a process in which one area of the law erodes or overtakes another.
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