This course attempts an overview of the place of contract law in the Australian legal system. It does this primarily by examining the essence of contractual obligation and comparing contractual rights and obligations with those recognised by other branches of private law; some aspects of contracts with public bodies may also be considered. After examining the usual division of the law of obligations into the laws of contract tort and restitution, the course considers the extent to which the traditional province of contract law has been reshaped by a resurgence of equity, and has been encroached upon by recent developments in the law of tort, the law of restitution, and statutes controlling misleading conduct in trade or commence. Also explored are the potential consequences for contract law of judicial reconsideration of some doctrines which have often been thought to define its boundaries (eg the doctrine of privity; and the rule that the supply of consideration is a precondition for enforcement of a promise not set out in a deed). Finally, some important overlaps and differences between the law of contract and the law of property, and some borderlands between the two, are considered. The course takes particular note of major scholarly writings concerning the essence of contractual obligation and the possible futures of contract law.