Early life and education
Macneil was the son of Robert Lister Macneil. He was educated at theCareer
His legal career began as a Clerk to theMacneil as Clan Chief
According to clan tradition, Ian Macneil, having succeeded his father, Robert Lister Macneil of Barra in 1970, was the 46th Chief of the Clan, in line of descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland, and 26th Macneil of Barra. Notable events during his tenure included his gifting of the crofting estate of Barra to the Scottish nation, and his granting of a lease of the medieval Kisimul Castle to Historic Scotland for 1000 years at an annual rent of £1 and one bottle of whisky. On his death he was succeeded in the position of Chief by his son Roderick Wilson Macneil.Scholarship
Macneil was a scholar in the field of contract law and is particularly associated (along with Stewart Macaulay) with the invention of " Relational Contract Theory". This theory had its first outing at the Association of American Law Professors' annual conference in late 1967 and was first alluded to in print in Macneil's article "Whither Contracts?" in 1969.I.R. Macneil, 'Whither Contracts?' (1969) 21 ''Journal of Legal Education'' However, the first really substantial articles laying down the foundations of the theory appeared in 1974. "Restatement (Second) of Contracts and Presentiation" and "The Many Futures of Contracts".I.R. Macneil, 'The Many Futures of Contract' (1974) 47 ''Southern California Law Review'' He developed the theory further in "Contracts: Adjustment of Long-Term Economic Relations Under Classical, Neoclassical, and Relational Contract Law",I.R. Macneil, 'Contracts: Adjustment of Long-Term Economic Relations under Classical, Neoclassical and Relational Contract Law' (1978) 72 ''Northwestern University Law Review'' and in his monograph The New Social Contract.I.R. Macneil, ''The New Social Contract'' (Yale UP: New Haven, Conn., 1980) He wrote more on relational contracts after 1980, mainly concerned with explaining and defending the theory, which has been much misunderstood by academic commentators, whether critical of or in favour of relational theory, but the outlines and much of the detail of the theory were settled by 1980. In 2000 Macneil renamed his theory "essential contract theory" to distinguish it from other possible versions of relational contract"Contracting Worlds and Essential Contract Theory" (2000) 9 Social & Legal Studies 431. Further interesting explanation has been given by Macneil in "Reflections on Relational Contract Theory after a Neo-classical Seminar". Macneil was also responsible, with Speidel and Stipanowich for a magisterial five-volume treatise on US arbitration law, ''Federal Arbitration Law: Agreements, Awards, and Remedies under the Federal Arbitration Act''(Little, Brown: Boston, 1994), which in 1995 won the American Association of Publishers' Best New Legal Book award, as well as a monograph on arbitration. The main elements of Macneil's relational contract theory were developed in a series of publications from 1969 to 1980, some of which are outlined below. He continued to publish articles and participate in colloquia in this field after 1980; however, the publications discussed below represent the key, formative literature of Macneil's version of relational theory. Subsequent publications have been mainly explanatory of the work done throughout the 1970s.Essential Contract Theory
Macneil's theory posits that the traditional approach of doctrinal contract law in the common law countries, which he calls "classical" and "neoclassical", which concentrates on "the deal" at its time of making, and treats individual contracts as discrete entities, is an inadequate and inaccurate tool for the study of contracts."Restatement (Second) of Contracts and Presentation", (1974) 60 ''Virginia Law Review'' He argues that all contracts are in fact not discrete at all but belong in the context of complex webs of exchange relations. This theory can be seen as a counter to both the "death of contract" idea, that contract as a separate idea was no longer relevant and that breach of contract is best regarded just as another tort (civil wrong), most closely associated with Grant Gilmore, and toReception
A symposium on relational contract theory was held at Northwestern University in 1999, with papers given by a number of American contract scholars including Stewart Macaulay, Melvin Eisenberg, Jay Feinman, Eric Posner, Robert E. Scott, and Richard Speidel. Macneil's work is often considered inaccessible and difficult to read. And Macneil expressed some disappointment at the reception of the work among legal scholars: 'I have now had over a decade to accept that there had never been any race to a relational theory of contract, nor have the succeeding years seen either widespread acceptance of (or indeed much challenge to) my particular theory or the development of other relational theories.' However, the Northwestern symposium and other more recent work goes some way to correcting that omission. In particular, David Campbell has published an edited collection of Macneil's relational contract theory work. Macneil's work in particular has also been discussed by Richard Austen-Baker, who relates Macneil's system of norms to English contract law doctrine, and used Macneil's theory to discuss the need or otherwise of further regulation of consumer contracts.Death
Macneil died 16 February 2010, at the age of 80.Selected bibliography
Macneil is the author of over 60 papers, monographs and other works. I.R. Macneil: *'When Acceptance Becomes Effective' in R.B. Schlesinger (Ed) ''Formation of Contracts: A Study of the Common Core of Legal Systems'' (Oceana Pubs: Dobbs Ferry, 1968) *'Whither Contracts?' (1969) 21 ''Journal of Legal Education'' 403 *'Restatement (Second) of Contracts and Presentiation' (1974) 60 ''Virginia Law Review'' 589 *'The Many Futures of Contracts' (1974) 47 ''Southern California Law Review'' 691 *'A Primer of Contract Planning' (1975) 48 ''Southern California Law Review'' 627 *'Contracts: Adjustment of Long-Term Economic Relations Under Classical, Neoclassical, and Relational Contract Law' (1978) 72 ''Northwestern University Law Review'' 854 *''Contracts: Exchange Transactions and Relations'', 2d edn (Foundation Press: Mineola, 1978) (1st edn, 1971) *''The New Social Contract'' (Yale UP: New Haven, Conn, 1980) *'Economic Analysis of Contractual Relations: Its Shortfalls and the Need for a "Rich Classifactory Apparatus"' (1981) 75 ''Northwestern University Law Review'' 1018 *'Efficient Breach: Circles in the Sky' (1982) 68 ''Virginia Law Review'' 947 *'Values in Contract: Internal and External' (1983) 78 ''Northwestern University Law Review'' 340 *'Reflections on Relational Contract' (1985) 141 ''Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics'' 541 *'Exchange Revisited: Individual Utility and Social Solidarity' (1986) 96 ''Ethics'' 567 *'Relational Contract Theory as Sociology: A reply to Professors Lindenberg and de Vos' (1987) 143 ''Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics'' 272 *'Contract Remedies: A Need for a Better Efficiency Analysis' (1988) 144 ''Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics'' 6 *''American Arbitration Law: Reformulation – Nationalisation – Internationalisation'' (OUP: Oxford, 1992) (with R.E. Speidel and T.J. Stipanowich) *''Federal Arbitration Law: Agreements, Awards and Remedies Under the Federal Arbitration Act'' (5 vols) (Little, Brown: Boston, 1994) *'Contracting Worlds and Essential Contract Theory' (2000) 9 ''Social and Legal Studies'' 431 *'Relational Contract Theory: Challenges and Queries' (2000) 94 ''Northwestern University Law Review'' 877 *'Reflections on Relational Contract Theory after a Neo-classical Seminar' in H. Collins, D. Campbell and J. Wightman (Eds), ''The Implicit Dimensions of Contract'' (Hart: Oxford, 2003)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macneil, Roderick 1929 births 2010 deaths Harvard University alumni University of Vermont alumni Northwestern University faculty Cornell University faculty University of Virginia faculty Scottish clan chiefs American people of Scottish descent Ian Roderick Legal writers Scottish lawyers 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers Scottish feudal barons 20th-century Scottish businesspeople