0195182863.pdf

114 Similarity

don’t need to know the law. What might the farmer be hoping would

happen? In fact, the law might favor the farmer on this one. Notice, why

is it the farmer doesn’t perform? One reason is, the market’s gone up,

but you say, “But wait a minute, what good does it do? He still has to

pay the damages.” What might the farmer be hoping? Yeah?

Student: The buyer’ll find cover.

Prof.: To find a substitute and what else?

This excerpt includes a realist commentary, pointing out that the average citizen
may not know the law. But note also that the farmer is not situated in terms of
time or place. We are working here with a stereotypic, abstract individual whose
main characteristics are a set of economic considerations given by his occupational
situation and the market. Even the differences between small farmers and large
agricultural enterprises, regional and cultural differences among farmers, the in-
fluence of long-term relational (or other kinds of) ties within communities and
between participants in markets are not salient here.^29 However, professors do make
sure that students pay careful attention to the stereotypical effects of occupational
identity and economic position (with their implications for legal strategy) on liti-
gants’ probable thoughts and expectations (as in the excerpt above).
Students quickly pick up on the importance of fixing the characters in con-
tracts stories in terms of their general economic and occupational identities:

examples: students stating the facts of the case,

introducing the characters

Transcript 6.7 [2/12/11]

Student: All right, the plaintiff, B., is the landowner and the defendant, K., is the

realtor.

Transcript 6.8 [4/32/1]

Student: The plaintiff is the builder’s () carpenter, and in September the

defendants, who I guess are like businessmen [... ]

Transcript 6.9 [6/5/2]

Student: The plaintiff was a courier and he was supposed to go- he was hired to

go on a trip with um the defendant and right before um the trip the

defendant canceled the arrangement and said that he would not- that he

was not making the trip and did not- no () no longer using the

plaintiff’s services.

As one professor explained:

Um, one of the things that I find useful to do is to think about the people who are

suing each other in terms of their classification. So remember I’ve said that there are

three kinds of contract cases that we tend to take up, um, there are contracts for uh,

construction contracts, there are contracts for uh, employment, and there are con-

tracts for the sale of goods, all right. So one of the things that may be useful is to trig-

ger that: so are we dealing with a buyer and seller; are we dealing with an owner and

a contractor, are we dealing with an employer and an employee? All right, so that it