This paper is a general comparative report on the responses of fifteen national reporters to an issue rarely touched by caselaw or doctrine: the problems arising for the legal order when honest and competent parties deliberately agree to ust the law from their elationship. It first examines the issues of legal theory posed by such an agreement, including its overlap with other well-known legal doctrines, and uses the gentleman's agreement as a touchstone to distinguish different visions of the proper function of private law. It then examines the practical use of such agreements in various fields of trade and commerce. A version was presented at the 1998 Bristol Congress of the International Acadamy of Comparative Law.
European Review of Private Law