Clear Rules Still Produce Fuzzy Results: Impossibility in Indian Contract Law
Robert Scott and others have forcefully argued that the justification for commercial statute-drafting is efficiency. Since commercial parties can draft their own contracts, legislatures should draft default rules, he argues, only when it will save commercial parties time and money. Greater efficiency is achieved when the costs of the gains produced by commercial transactions are reduced. Thus, with few exceptions, the rules of commercial law should be clear, precise, and what most parties would want most of the time. Statutory precision emulates a well-drafted agreement and reduces the risk of moral hazard. The excuse of contractual impossibility (including the liberalized version of commercial impracticability as well as the reciprocal doctrine of frustration of purpose, collectively, impracticability) stands in some tension with the goal of efficiency. Two responses to this uncertainty seem plausible. First, the law could provide a more precise impracticability rule, one that complies with the precision corollary. Alternatively, we can simply give up on the impracticability project, leaving risks to fall where they may and any excuses to the contract parties and their drafting efforts. This article will address the feasibility of the first alternative, that we can build a better impracticability mousetrap. Instead of speculating about what forms a more precise version of impracticability might take, we will examine a currently subsisting example, section 56 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. I conclude that the Indian Supreme Court has missed an opportunity to apply section 56 as originally understood and that those who stress the goal of efficiency should not count on judicial application of even precise rules.
Changing Contract Lenses: Unexpected Supervening Events in English, New Zealand, U.S., Japanese, and International Sales Law and Practice
This article compares differences in the reasoning underlying contractual relationships between English and New Zealand law and U.S. and Japanese law. It then builds upon an existing framework by adding the notion of didactic formality to identify another important contrast between the laws of these countries. It also discusses how CISG and UPICC fit in to this spectrum. The article concludes by questioning "strong convergence" theory in commercial law worldwide.
Pharmacokinetics of Mivacurium Isomers and Their Metabolites in Healthy Volunteers after Intravenous Bolus Administration
Background Previous studies report the pharmacokinetics of mivacurium isomers after an infusion using venous blood sampling. Although the extent of the mivacurium arterial‐venous gradient is not known, the sampling site is likely to influence mivacurium pharmacokinetic parameters because the drug is rapidly metabolized as it traverses the circulation. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the pharmacokinetics of mivacurium isomers in healthy persons after intravenous bolus administration using intensive arterial blood sampling, and (2) to characterize the formation and elimination of mivacurium metabolites in human plasma. Methods Eight persons classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 or 2 who were scheduled to undergo elective surgery under balanced anesthesia received 0.15 mg/kg mivacurium chloride as an intravenous bolus. Arterial blood samples were collected every 10 s during the first 2 min and at frequent intervals for 4 h thereafter. Plasma concentrations of mivacurium isomers and their metabolites were determined by two stereoselective high‐performance liquid chromatographic methods coupled with fluorometric detection and noncompartmental pharmacokinetic parameters. Results Mean elimination half‐lives of the trans‐trans, cis‐trans, and cis‐cis isomers were 2.4, 2, and 28.5 min, respectively, with corresponding mean plasma clearances of 29.2, 45.7, and 6.7 ml [center dot] min‐1 [center dot] kg‐1. The volumes of distribution at steady state of the trans‐trans, cis‐trans, and cis‐cis isomers were 0.047, 0.054, and 0.189 l/kg, respectively. Plasma concentrations of monoester and alcohol metabolites peaked 25 s (median) after mivacurium injection, with half‐lives in the range of 90 min, except for the cis alcohol metabolite, which was only negligibly and transiently formed. Conclusions Substantial hydrolysis of mivacurium isomers by cholinesterases was confirmed by the rapid appearance of mivacurium metabolites in plasma. The intensive arterial sampling proved to be critical for the trans‐trans and cis‐trans isomers because the area under the curve between 0 and 2 min accounted for 75% and 86% of the total, respectively.