> why can't we allow people to freely sign employment contracts with the terms defined in advance? Because 1) What incentive would people have to abide by the

> why can't we allow people to freely sign employment contracts with the terms defined in advance? Because 1) What incentive would people have to abide by their deals ? (also known as : NEVER sign a contract with any royalty or any parliament or congress. They are not bound by them. Just don't get yourself into that) 2) How would you even know the terms of a contract ? People may think they agree about every detail, I have done enough law to know perfectly well they never do. Given the chance, people will sign things like "I rent this room for 800 euro per month", for example. Now, the primary renter dies in a car crash, what happens ? Who owes what ? What if they're married ? What if there's children ? Does the inheritor inherit the obligation ? 3) How would you resolve obvious assymetric bargaining positions ? Suppose someone signed a contract selling someone into slavery ? Before you say otherwise, note that under muslim law, that is legal. Without law of the land, who is to say this is wrong ? And what would you do about it. But these are the obvious arguments. How about I save the 5000 page book this would become if we went over the entire set of problems that contracts pose. Here's a link, I guarantee that every single paragraph identifies a problem in "pure" contract law and free agreements between parties : http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc Or how about the European law version : http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/content/download/1950/13681/version/3/file/Code_22.pdf http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/content/download/1950/13681/ve... Read a few pages. It's not nonsense.