Book excerpt: The Dignity of Commerce is a rigorous and novel exploration of moral justification of contract law through how it fosters well-functioning markets. Nathan B. Oman demonstrates how contract law deals overwhelmingly with the matters of commercial exchange, and how commerce in turn breeds habits of mind, or virtues, that support a liberal society. He also shows how markets provide a framework for peaceful cooperation across the fault lines of race, culture, religion, and politics that outdo even democratic political institutions. The Dignity of Commerce is ambitious in its aims and its conclusions and the implications are powerful. It is sure to elicit a serious discussion at the very heart of one of the most central areas of legal studies, and Nathan B. Oman has provided a clear, engaging, and comprehensive vehicle to get the discussion started.