header-logo header-logo

Not just any contract…

25 November 2016 / Andrew Burns KC , Ishaani Shrivastava
Issue: 7724 / Categories: Features , Commercial
printer mail-detail
nlj_7724_burns

Andrew Burns QC & Ishaani Shrivastava examine the implication & construction of contract terms following Marks & Spencer

  • The importance of the traditional tests for implied terms.
  • Commercial parties should not rely on the courts to correct contracts.

The circumstances in which courts will imply a term into a commercial contract and the Hoffmann approach to contractual interpretation has been a matter of controversy between practitioners, academics and even between judges in recent years. Marks & Spencer v BNP Paribas Securities [2015] UKSC 72, [2016] 4 All ER 441 gave the Supreme Court an opportunity to clarify this vital area of the law of contract. But has the Supreme Court’s gentle rejection of Hoffmann’s unitary theory of contractual construction taken the courts into calm or stormy waters in the months following its definitive rulings?

Has the Supreme Court’s gentle rejection of Hoffmann’s unitary theory of contractual construction taken the courts into calm or stormy waters?

Implied rent rebate?

The question in Marks & Spencer was whether a rent

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

Forum of Insurance Lawyers elects president for 2026

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Partner joinslabour and employment practice in London

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Real estate dispute resolution team welcomes newly qualified solicitor

NEWS
Solicitors are installing panic buttons and thumb print scanners due to ‘systemic and rising’ intimidation including death and arson threats from clients
Ministers’ decision to scrap plans for their Labour manifesto pledge of day one protection from unfair dismissal was entirely predictable, employment lawyers have said
Cryptocurrency is reshaping financial remedy cases, warns Robert Webster of Maguire Family Law in NLJ this week. Digital assets—concealable, volatile and hard to trace—are fuelling suspicions of hidden wealth, yet Form E still lacks a section for crypto-disclosure
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold surveys a flurry of procedural reforms in his latest 'Civil way' column
Paper cyber-incident plans are useless once ransomware strikes, argues Jack Morris of Epiq in NLJ this week
back-to-top-scroll