By Luigi Russi

Pending negotiations for a contract, one party may begin to incur expenses in fulfilment of the proposed economic operation in anticipation of the finalisation of a formal contract, which is a common practice in many settings, from building and lease contracts to contracts for services in general.

This book, therefore, focuses on controversies that may arise when an expected contract collapses after one party withdraws from negotiations, with an ensuing attempt to determine what liability, if any, the withdrawing party should face regarding expenses incurred by the other.

The laws of England and Italy, along with several non-legislative codifications - including the 2009 edition of the Draft Common Frame of Reference - provide the starting point for a methodologically innovative comparative analysis that does not stop at a mere compilation of similarities and differences; it also attempts to unearth the underlying policy motives, in order to provide a deeper understanding of what"cooperation before contract" really means across the two legal systems and the non-legislative codifications that will be examined here. Such an understanding is all the more important for the purpose of engaging, with a critical and informed attitude, in the ongoing debate regarding the possible adoption of a European instrument designed to introduce common contract rules.

Luigi Russi holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees (summa cum laude) in Law from Bocconi University of Milan, Italy, as well as a Magister Juris degree from the University of Oxford, UK, which he has attended as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and is the author of numerous publications in the fields of comparative and international law and law and economics. He has served as an editor for the International Journal of Communications Law & Policy, and has been the founder, Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of the world's first student-edited series of legal working papers, Bocconi School of Law Student-Edited Papers.

November 2009, Paperback, 148 pages