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CONTRACT TERMS. Ed by Andrew Burrows and Edwin Peel Oxford: Oxford University Press (www.oup.com), 2007. xlii + 344 pp. ISBN 978019922937. £90.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Pages167-168
Date01 January 2010
DOI10.3366/E1364980909001140
Published date01 January 2010

This book is the seventh volume in the Oxford-Norton Rose Law Colloquium Series and comprises the papers given by something of a “Who's Who” of (primarily English) contract lawyers at St Hugh's College, Oxford in September 2006. It is divided into four parts: an introductory section, five essays on the construction and interpretation of contracts, three papers on the legislative control of exemption clauses and unfair terms, and five pieces on particular types of term.

Given the book's provenance, one approaches it with high expectations. This can sometimes lead to disappointment, but not on this occasion. The papers are all well worth reading, but the discussion on construction and interpretation is particularly rich, and within that section, the editors’ own pieces on construction and rectification and the current status of the contra proferentem rule (or more properly, as Peel reminds us, rules) and Stefan Vogenauer's comparative observations are particularly illuminating. Ewan McKendrick's piece on force majeure clauses and John Cartwright's on excluding liability for misrepresentation also stand out as a masterly expositions of how drafting practice interacts with the general law. On a more personal level, the introductory paragraphs to McKendrick's piece provided the unexpected bonus of a beautifully articulated excuse for the present reviewer's inability, while a trainee solicitor, to conduct research which provided straight answers to (so thought my boss) straight questions about the interpretation of contractual terms. It comes about a decade too late to be of practical use to me, but current trainees are urged to track it down.

There are particular features of the book with which a fussy reader might take issue. Not all of the essays are in complete agreement with each other: for example, it is possible to detect subtle differences in the treatment of contra proferentem in the...

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