Change is in the air. The Scots law approach to the
interpretation of contracts is being re-examined in the light of
European proposals and comments are invited. It is
anticipated that some wide-ranging updates and amendments to Scots
contract law will result.
The reason we enter into any written contract is to document the
intention of the parties and to ensure that each side is bound to
carry out its obligations whilst having the ability to enforce its
rights. The job of a commercial contracts lawyer is to identify the
specific, agreed intentions of the parties and to express those
intentions in a well written, easy to read contract.
Unfortunately, this ideal is not always achieved. Often, this
is a consequence of poor drafting by the lawyers, and sometimes it
is a result of a lack of clarity on what the parties'
intentions actually are – resulting in a fudged contract
term or a lack of necessary detail.
