《LEGAL SECRETS》

ONE Framing Secrecy1

CHAPTER ONE3

The Sociology of Secrecy3

The Trails of Five Secrets5

The Concept of Secrecy12

Forms of Secrecy16

Justifications for Secrets17

A Note on Lies and Half -Truths22

Secrets and the Social Distribution of Knowledge23

CHAPTER Two24

The Economic Analysis of Secrecy24

An Economic Hypothesis24

The Economics of Information: An Overview25

The Law and Economics of Secrecy31

Efficient Secrets41

CHAPTER THREE43

Secrecy and Strategy43

Strategic Uses of Information43

The Social Context of Strategic Secrets45

The Costs of Secret-Keeping in a Reactive World48

TWO Developing a New Jurisprudence55

CHAPTER FOUR57

A Contractarian Theory of Law57

Consent as a Basis for Legal Morality60

How Consent Works63

Those Who Choose66

Scope of Consent: Holistic or Piecemeal68

Negative and Positive Contractarianism69

Direct Secrets70

Serial and Shared Secrets79

Contractarianism and Utilitarianism83

CHAPTER FIVE86

A Theory of Legal Interpretation: The Mutual Construction of Rules and Facts86

On the Question of Texts86

The Need for a Theory of Interpretation88

The Interpretive Theory of the Economic Analysis of Law91

A Theory of Legal Interpretation94

Implications for the Study of Law103

Coda: How Law Is Not Like Literature105

THREE Understanding Fraud109

CHAPTER SIX111

The Nondisclosure Puzzle and Equal Access to Information111

Where the Buyer Knows More than the Seller112

Where the Seller Knows More than the Buyer115

Equal Access as a Theory of the Doctrine of Nondisclosure119

Comparing Contractarian and Economic Theories124

CHAPTER SEVEN127

Legally Relevant Facts in Fraud Cases127

The Importance of Material Information127

The Status of the Parties: Buyer and Seller130

Equal or Superior Means of Knowledge134

The Relation of the Parties to Each Other138

The Nature of the Agreement143

Special Confidence149

The Conduct of the Knowledgeable Party151

CHAPTER EIGHT161

Comparing Economic and Contractarian Theories of Nondisclosure and Fraud161

The Economic Analysis of Nondisclosure161

Legitimate Nondisclosure and Equal Access to Information167

FOUR Understanding Privacy179

CHAPTER NINE181

Secrecy and Privacy181

Secrets in the Shadow of Privacy181

Privacy Claims and Standing to Sue187

CHAPTER TEN191

Threshold Rules and Direct Secrets191

Threshold Rules191

Direct Secrets198

CHAPTER ELEVEN204

Serial Secrets204

Overdisclosure206

Identification211

Confidential Relations222

A Note on Secondhand Secrets226

CHAPTER TWELVE231

Trade Secrets as Corporate Privacy231

Secrecy232

Investment236

Confidential Relations240

Independent Discovery245

CHAPTER THIRTEEN248

Comparing Economic and Contractarian Theories of Privacy248

The Economic Theory of Privacy248

A Contractarian Theory of Privacy258

FIVE Understanding Implied Warranties267

CHAPTER FOURTEEN269

The Rule and Reality of Caveat Emptor in New York State, 1804—1900269

Caveat Emptor as a Legal Puzzle271

Core Applications of the Doctrine of Caveat Emptor275

Food, Fraud, Horses, and Slaves: The Original Exceptions to the Caveat Emptor Rule280

The Rise of Sales by Sample: 1825—1900285

Another Shift in Sales Conventions: The Executory Contract, 1840—1900287

Complex Products and the Knowledgeable Seller: 1860—1900291

Economic and Contractarian Theories of Implied Warranty292

SIX Concluding299

CHAPTER FIFTEEN301

The Logic of Legal Secrets301

Toward a Social Theory of Secrecy301

Toward a Contractarian Theory of Law308

Toward a Constitutional Jurisprudence316

Appendix321

Studying the Common Law: An Introduction for Social Scientists321

References329

Table of Cases339

Index of Names349

Subject Index353