This book will show that the notion of reliance is the defining element of liability for breaking off negotiations in the selected jurisdictions, particularly in the paradigm case. In this way, the legitimate reliance of the claimant on the expectation of the future conclusion of the contract, induced or encouraged by the party who then breaks off, is the common factor that explains the rationale of this liability. Although the scope of this work is limited to these jurisdictions, other studies have found that this notion is used to explain precontractual liability in many other jurisdictions. Some legal scholars go as far as stating that the disappointment of reliance is the common element to all doctrines relating to precontractual liability.

This work will demonstrate that there is no functional equivalence between the selected jurisdictions, on the one hand, and the contrasting jurisdiction, on the other, regarding the paradigm case: the latter does not provide relief for it, while the former do. Following a combined common core and functional approach, this work will argue that reliance is the ‘higher concept’ or ‘common core’ of liability for broken negotiations in the selected jurisdictions, and will show that reliance is present in the particular liabilities where the contrasting jurisdiction provides relief in cases of broken negotiations. Thus, reliance has the potential of leading to a functional equivalence or a common core between the selected jurisdictions and the contrasting jurisdiction if the latter were to embrace a reliance approach to granting relief in the paradigm case.

Throughout this book, the concept of reliance is used in ‘a rather looser sense’ in order to encompass the defining notions of the two dimensions of reliance that will be identified: trust and expectation. The distinction between the two dimensions of reliance in the field of precontractual liability for broken negotiations is very relevant because it shows how reliance interacts with good faith and how the two can be separated. It is here, in particular, that this work aims to demonstrate an innovative theoretical analysis that could have important practical consequences.