“계약”에 대한 법철학적 일고찰

We are so familiar with “contract” that we can not afford to make a modern social life without it. The system of contract laws modelled as the West has nearly governed our present way of doing even if in half century after the modern civilization. However, nobody knows, how different the “contract” in the Korean’s usual life is from the “contract” in the korean law books. In my guess, the gap between both is relatively deep. The Korean contemporary contract law terms and theories have been received from Japan. Korean contemporary contract law theories are characterized by the basic form and concepts of contract doctrine of the continental civil law jurisdiction. In the continental civil law the contract doctrine of “pacta sunt servanda” is accepted as the major premise of the contract law. Where is this doctrine from? Is a contract is the self promise or the promise for the another? The doctrine “pacta sunt servanda” is morally requested to the member of human society to keep a communal living. In this article, the legal term “계약” is from the etymological aspect of the Korean language reviewed, and the foundation of contract’s binding power is in a legal-philosophical context considered.