Good faith in contract negotiation and performance

Abstract

This paper provides a formal analysis of good faith in terms of a notion of satisfaction of given correctness rules. We consider the distinction between objective and subjective good faith, focusing on observable behaviour, the former, and on beliefs, the latter. The form given to the correctness rules will allow us to impose both positive and negative requirements to be fulfilled. This analysis is then incorporated into an extension of defeasible logic, in order to provide a computational framework to deal with the various versions of good faith previously discussed. Finally, we outline some formal connections between good faith and trust.