Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 November 2011
This article is about the implication of terms into contracts based upon the presumed intention of the parties. It is particularly concerned with the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Attorney General of Belize v. Belize Telecom Limited,1 a number of recent Court of Appeal decisions thereafter, and whether there has been any change in the law. Before getting to Belize, it is necessary to consider, as briefly as possible, what went before.
1 [2009] UKPC 10, [2009] 1 W.L.R. 1988.
2 (1889) L.R. 14 P.D. 64.
3 [1918] 1 K.B. 592.
4 [1939] 2 K.B. 206.
5 See, for example, the discussion of this in the speeches of Lord Cross of Chelsea and Lord Edmund-Davies in Liverpool City Council v. Irwin [1977] A.C. 239 at p. 258 (Lord Cross of Chelsea), and p. 266 (Lord Edmund-Davies).
6 [1977] A.C. 239.
7 [1976] Q.B. 319, 330.
8 Holdsworth Club Lecture, University of Birmingham 1935, cited at [1976] Q.B. 319,330.
9 [1995] E.M.L.R. 472.
10 Per Rix L.J. in Socimer Bank Limited v. Standard Bank Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 116.
11 [1998] 1 W.L.R. 896.
12 [2009] UKHL 38, [2009] 1 A.C. 1101; R. Buxton, “‘Construction’ and Rectification after Chartbrook” [2010] C.L.J. 253.
13 [1985] A.C. 191.
14 [2002] 1 A.C. 408.
15 Ibid., p. 459.
16 [2009] UKPC 10.
17 Ibid., para. [16].
18 Ibid., para. [25].
19 [1903] 2 K.B. 100.
20 [1933] 1 K.B. 205.
21 [1956] A.C. 696, 728.
22 See the speech of Lord Edmund-Davies, [1977] A.C. at p. 266.
23 See the speech of Lord Pearson, ibid., at pp. 609–610, and of Lord Cross of Chelsea at pp. 613–614.
24 [2009] EWCA Civ 531, [2010] 1 All E.R. (Comm) 1.
25 [2010] EWCA Civ 538.
26 [2010] EWCA Civ 1444.
27 Ibid., para. [39].
28 [2011] EWCA Civ. 543.
29 Ibid., para. [36].
30 This is confirmed by Arden L.J. in Stena Line, ibid. at para. 44, where Her Ladyship said that the implications of Belize were “not wholly clear”.