CPLC Seminar: 'Contractual interpretation under English and Continental law: Much more similar than you might think!'

The Centre for Private law is holding a lunchtime seminar at which Christoph Mueller (Université de Neuchâtel (Switzerland); and Clare Hall, Cambridge) will be talking about Contractual interpretation under English and Continental law, the session being chaired by Dr Janet O Sullivan.

The alleged difference between the basic approaches to interpretation on the two sides of the Channel has often been seen as one of the fault lines between the Civil Law and the Common Law traditions. I will argue that this difference is much less stark than is generally assumed to be the case by focusing on the two following examples.

English contract law in general, and the English approach to contractual interpretation in particular, has been, and still is usually characterized as “objective”. It is generally contrasted with the supposedly “subjective” approach of the Civil Law tradition.

Another significant (perceived) difference in matters of contractual interpretation between the Common Law and the Civil Law traditions concerns the admissibility of evidence related to the negotiations of a written contract, the "pre-contractual negotiation evidence bar".

Slides to accompany the talk are available to download.

This seminar is open to all LLM, MCL and PhD students, Faculty members and Faculty visitors. Participants are encouraged to bring their own lunch; soft drinks will be available at the seminar.