ABSTRACT
This article comments on the development of the case law within the sphere of contractual interpretation. It presents a normative argument for a more literalist approach that echoes Lord Neuberger’s restatement of the law in Arnold v Britton. The article uses, as a case study, the Supreme Court’s most recent judgment on contractual interpretation – Sara & Hossein v Blacks – where Lord Hamblen, for the majority, seemingly departed from the previous case law by adopting an interventionist and highly contextualist stance. The article argues from both a normative perspective and by considering the perspectives of the business community that the law took a perilous and unstable turn in Sara.
Jonathan Saunders, A Normative and Pragmatic Argument for Textualism and Stability within the Law on Contractual Interpretation: a Critique of Sara & Hossein v Blacks [2023] UKSC 2, London School of Economics Law Review, volume 10, issue 3. Published on 6 April 2025.
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