Editor's Note:In this chapter, Henry E. Smith explores the modularity aspects of boilerplate — how a standard term can be used in many different contracts, plugged in or out without having to modify other aspects of the contract. Smith finds that the modularity property arises from what he calls the “extensiveness” of the information contained in the term, being less context dependent and less informative, thus applicable in more settings. Whereas property rights are the ultimate extensive provisions – having identical structure over all circumstances and incorporating very little ad-hoc information – tailored contracts are at the other extreme, applicable to a single setting and incorporating a great deal of ad-hoc contexts. Within these polar types, boilerplate is intermediate, sharing many of the extensiveness attributes of property rights.