Assessing the Content of Contracts: Implied Terms from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract:     
The doctrine of implied terms is a useful device used by English courts to fill gaps that may have been left in a written contract. French law has not identified a similar doctrine and the process of implication mostly operates on the basis of statutes, equitable considerations, or through a distortion of the principles of interpretation. Therefore, introducing the concept of implied terms in French law could help to solve some inconsistencies and be an opportunity to establish clearer divisions between interpretation and incorporation of clauses, thereby bringing more certainty and transparency to this judicial practice concerned with the assessment of the content of contracts.

Part of a collection entitled 'Contract Law and Civil Justice Special Issues In Memory of Kurt Lipstein', edited by M Andenas, N Andrews and M Tamaruya. This paper and related papers have been accepted for publication and will appear in one of two special series in European Business Law Review (2011)(papers on contract) and (2012) (papers on procedure and civil justice).

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Keywords: Contract Law, Implied Terms

JEL Classification: K1, K12

working papers series