Mr Collins has written a remarkable book. It offers a sustained critique of the axioms traditionally thought to underlie the law of contract and its central thesis is that, when one passes the law in review, one perceives that “the classical law” of contract has now been supplanted by a “modern law” that is informed by doctrines radically different from those of its predecessor in title. Whereas the law of contract once supplied a vehicle for individuals’ undiluted self-interest, appealing to freedom of contract and non-interventionism in men’s affairs, this book identifies the new purpose of contract law as “the channelling and regulation of market transactions according to ideals of social justice” (p. 1)—ideals that protect