Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
12-2016
Abstract
Much of the contemporary scholarship on contractual interpretation is staunchly against a textual analysis, by which a court can only depart from the plain meaning of a contract exceptionally. It is therefore no surprise that scholars have reacted negatively to the spate of recent cases where the English courts have re-emphasized the plain meaning of the text in contractual interpretation. Yet one cannot help but wonder whether a textual analysis is really so problematic when courts across the common law world have re-embraced it. Drawing from both theoretical and comparative perspectives, this paper suggests that a focus on the text in contractual interpretation, and the corresponding application of the plain meaning rule, is to be welcomed and not scorned.
Discipline
Contracts
Publication
Common Law World Review
Volume
45
Issue
4
First Page
298
Last Page
318
ISSN
1473-7795
Identifier
10.1177/1473779516672811
Publisher
SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Citation
GOH, Yihan.
From context to text in contractual interpretation: Is there really a problem with the plain meaning rule?. (2016). Common Law World Review. 45, (4), 298-318.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2150
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
http://doi.org/10.1177/1473779516672811