Contract lawyers are well aware that it is in the boilerplate, in the creation of contractual norms, forms and defaults, that power gets divided and that winners and losers are made. This analysis applies to contractual governance just as it applies to the individual contract setting. This chapter draws on the example of forest carbon contracts to illustrate the 'behind the scenes' privileging of contractual forms, norms, and defaults in action. It argues that the reductionist vision of law emerging in the literature and practice of carbon contracting is both misleading and impoverished.