McMeel on the Construction of Contracts: Interpretation, Implication and Rectification, 4th Edition | 2025

McMeel on the Construction of Contracts: Interpretation, Implication and Rectification, 4th Edition | 2025

Overview of McMeel on the Construction of Contracts: Interpretation, Implication and Rectification, 4th Edition:

• Explores all major approaches to identifying the meaning and legal effect of contracts, such as interpretation, implied terms, and correction of written agreements.

• Provides in-depth engagement with leading rules and case law, offering analytical commentary to help navigate complicated disputes and appellate issues.

• Delivers a comprehensive review of common contractual clauses, with added chapters covering “no oral modification” provisions and agreements on dispute resolution.

Updates in this Edition:

• Incorporates the latest developments in contract law, including the Court of Appeal’s recent position on rectification and the Supreme Court’s evolution of policy-based terms implied by law.

• Highlights how policy considerations increasingly influence Supreme Court decisions, shaping contractual norms, setting baseline expectations, and supporting obligations such as duties of good faith.

• Examines new case law arising from Brexit, the Covid-19 crisis, and global conflicts, noting the movement toward prioritizing the clear-words rule instead of relying on the contra proferentem principle.

This fourth edition serves as a leading resource on contract construction, offering a distinctive, all-in-one treatment of the main methods used to determine the meaning and legal effect of agreements—including interpreting express wording, implying terms, and correcting written instruments. Since the previous edition, the core principles governing interpretation and the implication of fact-based (gap-filling) terms have largely stabilized. In contrast, terms implied in law—general default rules—have gained renewed prominence through several significant Supreme Court decisions, such as Wells v Devani, Triple Point Technology Inc v PTT, Barton v Morris, and Philipp v Barclays Bank, which highlight their importance in establishing contractual frameworks and minimum standards. This edition also examines developments in the law on rectification for common mistake, assessing the influence of the Court of Appeal in FSHC Group Holdings v Glas Trust and the Supreme Court in RMT v Nexus.

The book further considers the declining relevance of the contra proferentem rule within English jurisprudence and its replacement by the stronger clear-words approach in the context of exemption clauses, force majeure provisions, and beyond. It introduces new chapters on clauses restricting contractual variation (particularly “no oral modification” terms, following MWB v Rock Advertising) and on dispute resolution agreements (in light of Enka v Chubb). The edition also engages with case law shaped by Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, and global conflicts and their associated sanctions. McMeel on the Construction of Contracts remains an indispensable guide for commercial and corporate practitioners—both litigators and transactional lawyers—as well as judges dealing with contractual issues.

Table of Contents of McMeel on the Construction of Contracts: Interpretation, Implication and Rectification, 4th Edition: