Property share of a contract: Its transferability and value

The paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the frontier bet ween the legal and economic analyses of a contract. Toward that, specific s tandards for its representation are introduced. This, then, allows for a be tter-defined differentiation between an act and an obligation (a promise) t o perform an act. The author's aim is to suggest that: (i) economics primar ily deals with the exchange of acts and their valuation, (ii) the law focus es on the exchange of obligations and their enforceability. The paper demonstrates how to value obligations rather than the respective acts. An obligation is conceived of as a "piece of property" to which a deb tor and the creditor have respective ("negative" and "positive") shares. Si milarly, a contract as a whole is treated as a "good" that has a value to i ts contracting parties and that may be supplied and demanded.