Principles of Contractual Interpretation

This concise new book explains and re-evaluates the rules of construction at a conceptual level and explains clearly the principles which guide the courts in interpreting contracts and the associated practical implications. The work sets out the principles and considers each in turn providing examples of how they operate in practice. It covers difficult legal issues faced by the courts (such as the status of an agreement to agree) and the effect that these principles have on the drafting and reading of contracts. The purpose of the book is to give the reader an understanding of all of the issues which are involved in reading a contract. It therefore covers not just interpretation of contracts, but also the implication of terms and rectification.

0 - Prologue
1 - Principle 1: Objective Intention
2 - Principle 2: The Text
3 - Principle 3: The Whole Text
4 - Principle 4: The Context
5 - Principle 5: Natural Meanings
6 - Principle 6: Ambiguities
7 - Principle 7: Unnatural Meanings
8 - Principle 8: Implied Terms
9 - Principle 9: Rectification
10 - Estoppel by Convention

Richard Calnan is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, and a Visiting Professor at University College London . He has spent most of his career at Norton Rose. In the early 1980s he spent three years teaching at the University of Auckland. His specialisations are banking, the law of security and insolvency law.