Formation and Variation of Contract

Formation and Variation of Contracts deals with topics fundamental to the question of enforceability of promises made and how contracting parties can ensure their transactions are legally effective.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:.

Professor Cartwright considers all relevant recent developments, including:

• the developing case law on duties of good faith in negotiation or renegotiation of contracts, noting particularly recent decisions through which the English courts may be becoming more open to giving effect to an express obligation to negotiate or renegotiate in good faith, whilst not accepting a general implied duty to negotiate or renegotiate in good faith;.
• cases on the scope of a claim in unjust enrichment where the negotiations for a contract break down, intention to create legal relations, certainty of agreement, formation of the contract following a battle of forms between the parties negotiating a contract, establishing the parties agreement to the variation (including by novation) of an existing contract, and applying the doctrine of consideration;.
• the continuing discussion about the role of emerging technologies in the formation of contracts, including recent work by the Law Commission and other agencies on smart legal contracts;.
• cases on the interpretation and application of statutory formality requirements for contracts and deeds, and the use of doctrines of estoppel and constructive trust to give effect to transactions which fail to comply with formality requirements;.
• the continuing reception (both positive and negative) by case law and commentators in England and in other common law jurisdictions of the decision of the Supreme Court in MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd (2018) in relation to the binding force of no oral modification clauses;.
• the significance for topics discussed in the book of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union; this includes changes made to the EU law retained within English law after the end of the EU withdrawal agreement implementation period, and the impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 and other legislation, already passed or currently in progress or planned, to remove legislative provisions which derive from EU law.