57 Provision of efficient default rules

It is an aid to efficiency to provide extensive default rules for common types of contract and common types of contractual problem. This is particularly useful for individuals and small businesses who do not have the same legal resources as big businesses. If matters which experience shows are likely to cause difficulty can be regulated in advance, in a fair and reasonable manner, that is much more efficient than having to litigate about them later. It is hoped that the content of the default rules will also promote efficiency. The DCFR does not take the view (occasionally heard but rarely supported and never adopted) that default rules should be so unreasonable that the parties are pushed to negotiate and think things out for themselves. In cases involving only the parties to a transaction, it tries to base the default rules on what the parties would probably have agreed but for the costs of trying to do so. Such rules should produce efficient outcomes since that is presumably what the parties would have wanted.