Justifying Fair Price Rules in Contract Law

This article discusses the introduction of a general 'fair price rule' in (European) contract law. According to such a rule, prices that create a 'significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations' would not bind the disadvantaged party. Justifying this rule cannot be avoided by holding, as Martijn Hesselink does, that in light of a 'reasonable pluralism of worldviews', the issue is one which a democratically elected lawmaker has to decide. A welfarist (economic) conception of justice best explains the existing (European) rules on contract formation and price, and it also casts a long and dark shadow over a general 'fair price rule'.