Abstract:
Much of the contemporary scholarship on contractual interpretation is staunchly against a textual analysis, by which a court can only depart from the plain meaning of a contract exceptionally. It is therefore no surprise that scholars have reacted negatively to the spate of recent cases where the English courts have re-emphasized the plain meaning of the text in contractual interpretation. Yet one cannot help but wonder whether a textual analysis is really so problematic when courts across the common law world have re-embraced it. Drawing from both theoretical and comparative perspectives, this paper suggests that a focus on the text in contractual interpretation, and the corresponding application of the plain meaning rule, is to be welcomed and not scorned.
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Yihan Goh, From context to text in contractual interpretation: Is there really a problem with a plain meaning rule?, Common Law World Review December 2016 vol 45 no 4 298-318, doi: 10.1177/1473779516672811.
First posted 2016-12-07 08:09:49
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