Academic

While I was taking a hiatus from blogging, Ian Macneil died in Scotland. I have written about Macneil's influence on the study of contracts, and he was clearly an important figure, who created a "relational theory of contract." His Northwestern obituary contains this interesting tidbit:

President Barack Obama was in one of Mr. Macneil's classes when he visited at Harvard Law School, and, at that time, Mr. Macneil was prescient in remarking to his wife, Nancy, that Obama would become America's first African American president.

This obituary in the FT gives some more context on MacNeil's life in Scotland. It also provides this tribute to my former colleague Stewart Macaulay, who is a law professor, not a sociologist: "The importance of context to business performance was first elaborated by a sociologist, Stuart Macaulay, who emphasised how trust relationships underpin business behaviour."