The Costly Consequences Of Inelegant Drafting

1. INTRODUCTION

It was the late renowned English judge, Lord Denning MR, that opined that "words are the lawyer's tool of trade".¹ In nowhere is this more true than in contracts and legislative drafting, where words can make or mar any legislative and contractual instrument. Indeed, many high stakes cases have turned on the judicial interpretation of words used in a contract or statute. Millions of funds have been lost, whilst businesses and even lives have been imperiled because of one errant word or punctuation mark that was used unguardedly in a contract or statute.

The aim of this article is to review some of the cases where court decisions were hinged on the interpretation of a word or punctuation that was inadvertently used or not used in a contract or statute and make recommendations on how to avoid such pitfalls in legal drafting.