A study of the philosophical, historical, statutory, and procedural development of contract law (Nebraska)

The purpose of this research was to study the philosophical, historical, statutory, and procedural legacy of contract law, then, based on this study, create a method of analysis that can be used to insure that the standards of natural law are observed in all contractual relationships in the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lincoln. The intellect by its nature has the capacity to know, in a finite way, eternal law and to construct precepts that direct human actions toward the "good" known in the eternal law. Participation in the eternal law, to the degree that humans are capable, is referred to as natural law. Natural law enables humans to know the prime mandate of the eternal law. From this understanding of natural law, an analysis was constructed that gave the researcher a means to determine the objective elements of natural law: truth, goodness, and unity. This analysis was applied to contractual instruments used within the diocese. Some diocesan contractual instruments contained essential natural law elements and others did not. In the procedural legacy phase of this study, it was found from a review of case law that American courts apply contract law principles in disputes that arise over private school teachers' contracts and seem to view private school student handbooks as contractual instruments, especially if appropriate contract language is included.