STRICT INTERPRETATION OF CONTRACTS

摘要

Two recent cases shed some light on the approach taken by the English courts when interpreting contracts. In such a case, the aim of the court is to understand the parties' intentions by reference to what a reasonable person, with all the background knowledge available to the parties, would have understood the parties to mean by the language used in the contract. The starting point is to look at the words in the contract and assume that the parties have in fact meant what they said in that contract. If the words used are capable of only one meaning then it is not necessary to look beyond those words, even if they produce a result which may seem absurd. The court will not substitute its own view of what the parties intended, or what was commercially reasonable, if the words used have a clear and unambiguous meaning.