Interpretation Of Contracts: Certainty Of Expression Or Intention?

It is often presumed that interpretation of contracts investigates certainty of expression, however, through examining legislation and numerous Bahraini Court of Cassation rulings, we witness that courts will in fact look for certainty of intention over that of expression. While some expressions in a contract could be plain and representative of the true intentions of the parties, other expressions could also be equally plain but unrepresentative of the true intentions of the parties.

Even if the wording is clear on its face, in some circumstances the nature of the contract may reveal that a certain term's intended meaning differs from the words used in the contract, and in this case, courts will consider the rules of interpretation embodied in the Bahraini Civil Code to reveal the parties' common intention.