Foundations of Private Law is a treatise on the Western law of property, contract, tort and unjust enrichment in both common law and civil law systems. It describes the doctrines that govern these fields of law and identifies principles that can explain both the similarities and differences between them.

Comprehensive treatment of all the basic fields of private law: property, tort, contract and unjust enrichment allowing these fields to be seen as parts of a unified subject Shows how the history of the common law and civil law are related and how modern law depends on developments in the past Brings insights from a background in philosophy to the analysis

James Gordley received a B.A (1967) and M.B.A. (1968) from the University of Chicago and a J.D. (1970) from Harvard Law School. After a year in private practice and a fellowship in Italy, he became Ezra Ripley Thayer Fellow at Harvard Law School and then fellow at the Medieval Institute of Canon Law at Berkeley, he joined the Berkeley Law Faculty in 1978 where he became a full professor in 1981, and Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence in 1996. He is currently Co-Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law, a member titulaire of the International Academy of Comparative Law, a member of the Consulting Board of The European Review of Contract Law, and a member of the Board of Editors, Trento Project on the Common Core of European Law.

Comprehensive treatment of all the basic fields of private law: property, tort, contract and unjust enrichment allowing these fields to be seen as parts of a unified subject Shows how the history of the common law and civil law are related and how modern law depends on developments in the past Brings insights from a background in philosophy to the analysis