Contract
Contracts across jurisdictions

Common law jurisdictions are often associated with a high degree of freedom of contract. One example of the supposedly greater freedom of contract in American law, is the 1901 case of Hurley v. Eddingfield in which a physician was permitted to deny treatment to a patient despite the lack of other available medical assistance and the patient's subsequent death. In civil law jurisdictions rooted in the French or German tradition, nominate contracts are regulated in order to prevent unfair terms. The law of obligations typically includes a duty to rescue which would make cases such as Hurley v. Eddingfield far less likely. Conversely, civil law jurisdictions are more likely to enforce penalty clauses and provide for the specific performance of contracts than their common law counterparts, which typically refuse to recognise clauses providing for damages greater than that required to adequately compensate the plaintiff.
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