Removing Uncertainty From Contract Law

 

The Supreme Court of Canada has recently rendered several important decisions regarding contractual liability which have the potential to significantly change the law of contracts in numerous ways, such as by:

• Restricting the scope for punitive damages
• Re-stating the basis of compensatory awards
• Qualifying positions that the Supreme Court took in earlier decisions

Canadian Contract Law, 2^nd Edition addresses and seeks to eliminate this uncertainty. Leading practitioner and academic Angela Swan presents a general framework to help you understand all the problems that may arise in a contractual relation, deal with them effectively, and avoid frustrated expectations. She applies each rule of contract law to practical contexts to answer four central questions:

• What exactly is the problem?
• How do the rules deal with this problem?
• What is the solution?
• What other consequences and solutions may exist that the courts have not yet explored?

This in-depth examination covers all aspects of contract law, including offer and acceptance, consideration, conditions, remedies for breach of contract, interpretation, the control of contract power, and illegality. Cases are current to December 2008, and extensive footnotes will assist you with developing more persuasive arguments for clients, drafting agreements for them and in giving them sound advice.

 

New in This Edition

• How does the starting point for awarding damages for a breach of contract affect the available remedies?
• What remedies are available for mental distress caused by a breach of contract?
• Do obligations of good faith within a contractual relation exist during the negotiation phase?
• How relevant are understandings derived from the context of the agreement?
• What is the proper attitude to the interpretation of contracts?
• What changes have recently impacted:
  • The law of modifying promises or going transaction adjustments?
  • Conditions and forfeitures?
  • The law of abatement?
  • Mistakes and best (or reasonable) efforts?

A Must-Have Reference For

• Corporate/commercial lawyers, in-house counsel and government lawyers who are required to have general knowledge of contract law such as agreements of purchase and sale in real estate, or shareholder agreements in corporate/commercial law
• Judges who need a framework for thinking about the principles involved in a contracts case and quick access to the leading cases on a particular topic of contract law
• Law professors who need to convey the basic principles underlying contract law and provide useful examples to students
• Law students who will benefit from a clear and careful guide to the maze of cases, concepts, and principles of contract law