"No Oral Modification" Clause - Rock Advertising v MWB Business

Supreme Court confirms that parties can agree a "No Oral Modification" clause

The parties entered into a contract which included a clause that all variations to the contract "must be agreed, set out in writing and signed on behalf of both parties before they take effect". Such a clause is commonly called a "No Oral Modification" clause and the issue in this case was whether it was effective. One of the parties argued that it was not because: " (i) a variation of an existing contract is itself a contract; (ii) precisely because the common law imposes no requirements of form on the making of contracts, the parties may agree informally to dispense with an existing clause which imposes requirements of form; and (iii) they must be taken to have intended to do this by the mere act of agreeing a variation informally when the principal agreement required writing". Those arguments have been accepted in other countries, such as Australia, Canada and Germany and also found