A Uniform Approach to Contract Formation and Interpretation

A Uniform Approach to Contract Formation and Interpretation

Historically, the common law courts have drawn a sharp distinction between the principles governing formation of contracts and those governing their interpretation. For example, evidence of the parties’ actual intentions as to the meaning or effect of their contract, derived from their negotiations and subsequent conduct, was generally inadmissible once it was established that a contract had been formed. In this lecture Professor McLauchlan will discuss whether the distinction can survive in New Zealand after the Supreme Court’s decision in Bathurst Resources Ltd v L&M Coal Holdings Ltd [2021] 1 NZLR 696 and whether the departure from the law in other common law countries, notably the United Kingdom and Australia, endorsed by the Court is to be welcomed.

David McLauchlan joined the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington in 1971 and has been Professor of Law since 1981. He is also an Honorary Professor at The University of Queensland and has held other professorial positions at The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney and The University of Hong Kong.

David is the author of two books and has published many journal articles and book chapters, mainly in the areas of the law of contract and commercial law. His writings, which have recently focused on remedies for breach of contract and contract interpretation, have been frequently cited in the judgments of leading Commonwealth courts. He is currently completing a two-volume book entitled “Teaching Contract: My Way” that explains and illustrates his approach to teaching the law of contract over the past 53 years.

Host or Publisher University of Auckland, Law School