The Law and Sociology of Boilerplate

In my view, the scholarship presented at this symposium demonstrates that, in order to analyze form contracts and boilerplate successfully, one must carry out a set of operations that embodies an approach I will call law and sociology. But I presume I was invited to be a commentator at this conference on boilerplate not because the article I wrote on one branch of the subject awhile back exemplified this methodological approach, but because it took a rather strong substantive position. And so I think I ought first to say a brief word about that. The article in question concerned contracts of adhesion in, roughly speaking, the consumer context, and the position I took was that what I called the invisible terms of those contracts-the large number of terms not disciplined by the actual bargaining or shopping behavior of consumers even in price-competitive markets--ought to be treated by the law as presumptively unenforceable. The burden should be put on drafting firms to show their form terms were worth judicial enforcement rather than on adherents to the forms to show the terms were unconscionable; and if this burden were not met, the courts should apply the general, legally implied default terms instead of the drafter\u27s terms. This was not then, and is not now, the law, but I would not be candid if I did not say that I still think that, as regards the domain I was addressing, I was right

Too Many Theories

A Review of Michael J. Trebilcock, The Limits of Freedom of Contrac

In Memoriam: Clark Byse

The editors of the Harvard Law Review respectfully dedicate this issue to Professor Clark Byse

The Tumor Suppressor Gene, RASSF1A, Is Essential for Protection against Inflammation -Induced Injury

10.1371/journal.pone.0075483PLoS ONE810-POLN

Human gut Bacteroidetes can utilize yeast mannan through a selfish mechanism

Yeasts, which have been a component of the human diet for at least 7,000 years, possess an elaborate cell wall α-mannan. The influence of yeast mannan on the ecology of the human microbiota is unknown. Here we show that yeast α-mannan is a viable food source for the Gram-negative bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a dominant member of the microbiota. Detailed biochemical analysis and targeted gene disruption studies support a model whereby limited cleavage of α-mannan on the surface generates large oligosaccharides that are subsequently depolymerized to mannose by the action of periplasmic enzymes. Co-culturing studies showed that metabolism of yeast mannan by B. thetaiotaomicron presents a ‘selfish’ model for the catabolism of this difficult to breakdown polysaccharide. Genomic comparison with B. thetaiotaomicron in conjunction with cell culture studies show that a cohort of highly successful members of the microbiota has evolved to consume sterically-restricted yeast glycans, an adaptation that may reflect the incorporation of eukaryotic microorganisms into the human diet