Contract Interpretation in UK Law
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Wood v Capita Insurance Services Ltd
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It has long been accepted that this is not a literalist exercise focused solely on a parsing of the wording of the particular clause but that the court must consider the contract as a whole and, depending on the nature, formality and quality of drafting of the contract, give more or less weight to elements of the wider context in reaching its view as to that objective meaning.
Textualism and contextualism are not conflicting paradigms in a battle for exclusive occupation of the field of contractual interpretation. Rather, the lawyer and the judge, when interpreting any contract, can use them as tools to ascertain the objective meaning of the language which the parties have chosen to express their agreement. The extent to which each tool will assist the court in its task will vary according to the circumstances of the particular agreement or agreements.
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Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society
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(1) Interpretation is the ascertainment of the meaning which the document would convey to a reasonable person having all the background knowledge which would reasonably have been available to the parties in the situation in which they were at the time of the contract.
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Rainy Sky SA and Others v Kookmin Bank
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If there are two possible constructions, the court is entitled to prefer the construction which is consistent with business common sense and to reject the other.
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Reardon Smith Line Ltd v Yngevar Hansen-Tangen (trading as H. E. Hansen-Tangen)
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No contracts are made in a vacuum: there is always a setting in which they have to be placed. In a commercial contract it is certainly right that the court should know the commercial purpose of the contract and this in turn presupposes knowledge of the genesis of the transaction, the background, the context, the market in which the parties are operating.
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Chartbrook Ltd v Persimmon Homes Ltd and another
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What is clear from these cases is that there is not, so to speak, a limit to the amount of red ink or verbal rearrangement or correction which the court is allowed. All that is required is that it should be clear that something has gone wrong with the language and that it should be clear what a reasonable person would have understood the parties to have meant. In my opinion, both of these requirements are satisfied.
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Marks and Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd
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If one approaches the question by reference to what the parties would have agreed, one is not strictly concerned with the hypothetical answer of the actual parties, but with that of notional reasonable people in the position of the parties at the time at which they were contracting. Secondly, a term should not be implied into a detailed commercial contract merely because it appears fair or merely because one considers that the parties would have agreed it if it had been suggested to them.
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Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016
... ... dwelling as a home, including provision establishing two kinds of contract for the purpose of renting homes; and for connected purposes ... [18 ... (2) Part 11 contains- ... (a) provision about the interpretation of this Act, and ... (b) provision which applies generally for the ... ...
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The Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015
... ... 2007/1388. # F8 Section 14A of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) (inserted by section 59 of the Enterprise and Regulatory ... Regulated Activities Order;“consumer credit back book mortgage contract” means a contract which—(a) (i) is entered into before 21st March ... ...
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Insurance Act 2015
... ... In this Act (apart from Part 6) —“consumer insurance contract” has the same meaning as in the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and ... 2: Application and interpretation ... (1) This Part applies to non-consumer insurance contracts only ... ...
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The Concession Contracts Regulations 2016
... ... S-2 ... Interpretation Interpretation ... 2. —(1) In these Regulations— ... “bodies ... an invitation or has been invited to take part in a concession contract award procedure; ... “the Commission” means the European Commission; ... ...
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Contract Interpretation Regimes
Freedom of contract requires the integrity of social institutions that ensure the preconditions for private autonomy. This has been largely ignored by a private law doctrine that works on the assum...
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