“It is well established that the common law adopts an objective approach to the interpretation of contracts. But what does this approach entail? Further, what are courts ultimately trying to determine when they interpret a contract? In his carefully researched new book, Ryan Catterwell provides an answer to both questions. For Catterwell, contractual interpretation aims to infer the ‘objective intention’ of the parties to the contract, which he claims occurs via the following ‘four-stage process’: (1) definition of an interpretive question; (2) identification of competing interpretations; (3) formulation of the arguments supporting each interpretation; and (4) weighing the arguments in favour of each interpretation …”
Timothy Pilkington, Catterwell, R, A Unified Approach to Contract Interpretation, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020, 320 pp, hb £72.00, Modern Law Review, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12725. First published 12 February.
First posted 2022-02-14 11:00:42
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