Literary notes about contract (AI summary)
In literature, the word "contract" is employed in a variety of ways to reflect its complex nature both as a literal legal instrument and as a metaphor for mutual obligations or binding social agreements. Legal thinkers and jurists describe it in context of formal conditions and stipulations that define duties between parties [1, 2, 3], while political philosophers extend the concept to the foundation of society, as seen in discussions of the social contract [4, 5, 6]. Dramatic writers, such as Shakespeare, adapt the term to capture themes of commitment and the binding nature of relationships, whether in marriage or in the more abstract sense of love’s obligations [7, 8, 9]. Moreover, the term is sometimes metaphorically applied in narratives to signal a contraction of emotions or a broader life commitment [10, 11], demonstrating its versatility across genres and historical periods.
- [303] to the circumstances under which the contract is made.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - In every case it leaves him free from interference until the time for fulfilment has gone by, and therefore free to break his contract if he chooses.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - /2/ It might be asked what analogy could have been found between a breach of contract and those wrongs which excite the desire for vengeance.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - Since the nation was a nation before it chose a king, what made it a nation, except the social contract?
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - This is the fundamental problem of which the Social Contract provides the solution.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The doctrine that society is founded on a contract between the people and the government is of mediæval origin.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - In youth when I did love, did love, Methought it was very sweet; To contract, O, the time for, a, my behove, O methought there was nothing meet.
— from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare - O loving uncle, kind Duke of Gloucester, How joyful am I made by this contract!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - A contract of true love to celebrate; 85 And some donation freely to estate On the blest lovers. Cer.
— from The Tempest by William Shakespeare - She said it in a tone that made his heart contract.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James - So, without knowing it, I was making one joker very sick of his contract.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain