Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Continuing with my survey of illicit promises, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan and David A. Hoffman’s recent critique of hush contracts deserves mention. (Wilkinson-Ryan and Hoffman, law professors at the University of Pennsylvania, published their powerful critique in The Atlantic.) Their Ivory Tower … Continue reading →

Thus far, we have surveyed three types of agreements or exchanges: illegal & immoral ones; legal & immoral ones; and illegal & moral ones. This leaves one last category–agreements that are both legal and moral. By definition, such exchanges are … Continue reading →

Let’s continue with our survey of illicit promises. Thus far, we have seen examples of legal but immoral agreements (such as slave trade contracts under Imperial Spain’s asiento system) as well as of illegal but moral agreements (such as usurious … Continue reading →

Thanks to the Amazing Alex Tabarrok, we stumbled upon this paper by Esteban Mendez-Chacon and Diana Van Patten, who provide a revisionist and alternative assessment of the reviled United Fruit Company. Professor Tabarrok provides additional commentary here.

Let us continue our survey of illicit promises, shall we? Can you think of an example of a perfectly legal bargain whose subject matter is nevertheless immoral? What about the Atlantic slave trade? Prior to 1807, when Great Britain and … Continue reading →

Before moving on, let me to present another example of an illegal agreement containing promises that are not necessarily immoral: usurious payday loans. No, I am not trying to troll you; hear me out. First and foremost, not all payday … Continue reading →

I presented a fourfold classification of illicit promises in my previous post: (i) promises that are legal and moral, (ii) those that are legal but immoral, (iii) those that are illegal and immoral, and (iv) those that are illegal but … Continue reading →

I have been making significant revisions to my work in progress “Breaking Bad Promises.” Among other things, I have included many new examples of illicit promises, i.e. promises that are either illegal or immoral, including drug deals as portrayed in … Continue reading →