A recent decision of the Royal Court has held that, when
determining whether or not parties have consented to entering into
a contract, and, if so, on what terms, an objective test should be
applied rather than the Court seeking to determine, subjectively,
what the parties intended.
In the recent Judgment in Sir Bob
Murray C.B.E. v Camerons Limited
[2020] JRC 179, the Court posed the following
question:
"Should the Court first turn to the expressions of
historic intent of one party or another, and together with
supporting evidence if any, seek to determine, subjectively, what
that party intended? Or do we look at the circumstances in the
round and ask ourselves what a third party looking at the paperwork
in the matter and how individuals behaved and their evidence would
think that the parties intended for their contractual relations? In
other words do we assess the matter using the subjective or the
objective test?"
