This chapter provides a shift in analytical perspective as well as point of observation. Having carried out a semantic analysis of the partnership concept and of the way in which it both opens and closes in a particular way the possibility for organisations to communicate about mutual relations, and having provided a case analysis of communication clashes across function systems in a public outsourcing project, this chapter now provides a semantic analysis of contract semantics in legal theory. Preliminary analysis indicates that the traditional contract is being put under pressure in cross-sectoral collaborations. Legal contract theory is included in this book because the legal system has most consistently nurtured the concept of contract and has developed a language for and around it.

A discussion of whether and how legal contract theory forms concepts that can be said to be equivalent to the partnership concept and to collaborations involving many function systems follows. In other words, from the perspective of contract theory, does the traditional concept of contract seem to be put under pressure? In which ways has the discussion of contract law sought to solve the complexity questions? In which ways has the discussion of contract law formulated questions about trans-boundary contracts, communication and complexity? We will observe the way that the legal contract-theoretical language allows for the description of interorganisational relations as well as interfunctioning of systemic relations.

This chapter does not provide a review of every discussion in this field, but simply highlights three ‘clusters’ of theory. The first is Ian R. Macneil's theory about relational contracts. Macneil clearly opens up for question the impact that communication has on contract formation. He also formulates a question about complexity management in contracts. His goal is to bring society into contract development itself as an extra-contractual element. The second is Stewart Macaulay who, in addition to having an eye for the question of communication, opens up a kind of perspectivism in the understanding of the specific life and interpretation of contracts. The third is the discussion of reflexive elements in contracts. This discussion finds inspiration in the writings of both Macneil and Macaulay, but also has references to a more normative discussion of welfare law and to Gunther Teubner's systems theory about reflexive law.