# Contorts

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{{Short description|Informal phrase used in contract law}}
{{distinguish|Contortion}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2007}}
'''Contorts''' (arguably) is a [portmanteau](/source/portmanteau), or a combination of "[contracts](/source/contracts)" and "[torts](/source/torts)" originated by [Grant Gilmore](/source/Grant_Gilmore) in his book ''[The Death of Contract](/source/The_Death_of_Contract)''.  The generally informal term<ref>Legal disputes are not formally or officially referred to as "founded in" or "actions" in contorts or contorts law.</ref> refers to the continual or persistent "tortification" of [contract law](/source/contract_law). In other words, in recent years, principles from [tort law](/source/tort_law) increasingly have been applied to contract disputes and incorporated into the general body of contract law.

The basis for "contorts" includes the widespread application of [promissory estoppel](/source/promissory_estoppel) (as a substitute for [consideration](/source/consideration)) and the awarding of [punitive damages](/source/punitive_damages) in [breach of contract](/source/breach_of_contract) claims. At least in certain aspects, strict and rigid conceptions of contract law and contractual relationships have thus been eroded or deemphasized in [common law](/source/common_law) and [popular culture](/source/popular_culture).

Alternatively, "contorts" may simply refer to a fusion of contracts and torts law, rather than a process in which one area of the law erodes or overtakes another.

==See also==
*[Collegatary](/source/Collegatary)
*[Allonge](/source/Allonge)
*[Condonation](/source/Condonation)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Common law
Category:Informal legal terminology

{{law-term-stub}}
{{slang-stub}}

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