Contracts vs covenants

Contracts work well when both sides of the exchange value the goods and services comparably. When the seller cannot use the goods and services but the buyer can, which is to say, when the gradient of value is steep between seller and buyer, then the better interactional device is the covenant, not the contract. A father cannot build his family with his daughter so the matrimonial transaction is more covenantal than contractual. Where one party views the object of interaction as waste matter while the other party views it as life giving, there covenant should govern and not contract. Otherness can, to some extent, be measured by this gradient of value between the two interacting parties. The steeper the gradient, the more ‘otherness’ there is in the system, the more the interactions should be governed by covenants, and the more it is the case that sacred institutions should operate alongside and as mitigating forces on the primary, secular institutions in the society.