Contract law

Articles, news and guidance on contract law in the UK and Europe.

Legal Alert

Legal Alert is a monthly checklist from Atom Content Marketing highlighting new and pending laws, regulations, codes of practice and rulings that could have an impact on your business.

New law: Employer taking on a new employee in breach of a restriction imposed on the employee by former employer did not ‘induce a breach of contract’

01-04-2020

Employers taking on an employee should check whether the employee is subject to a restriction on working for them imposed by a previous employer, and consider the risks of being found to have induced the employee to breach those restrictions if they offer a job, following a recent legal ruling.

Case law: Court clarifies standard required where lease contains an obligation to keep property in repair

01-04-2020

Landlords and tenants of properties will welcome clarification from the court on the standard required under repairing obligations in leases. They should start planning and negotiating in good time before any obligation takes effect, to ensure that the repairs satisfy the requirements of the lease and are carried out in time.

Case law: Business legally bound by contract with supplier, even though employee who negotiated it had no authority to do so

01-03-2020

Businesses should ensure that employees – particularly those with titles such as ‘Buyer’ that imply they are authorised to negotiate and conclude contracts with suppliers – are aware of the limitations on their authority to do so, and the procedures they must follow. Otherwise a business risks being bound by contracts the employee did not have authority to make - including those made by email.

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Useful links

Contract law in Europe (Business Link)
Guide to contracts in the European single market, the validity of contracts in Europe, interpretation of terms in European contracts and other topics.

Drafting contracts: key lessons from 2018
An annual contract law update from Herbert Smith Freehills, looking at interesting contract law cases which have highlighted key points for those involved in drafting or managing contracts.

Guidance on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Ministry of Justice)
The Rome I Regulation governs the choice of law in cross-border transactions within the European Union. It applies to all EU member states except Denmark.

CMA consumer enforcement guidance
Collection of guidance on consumer protection and unfair terms from the Competition and Markets Authority, some of which was originally published by the Office of Fair Trading.

Articles and books in the Library collection

Selected books

Drafting commercial agreements
(Law Society, 2018)
Contains sample contract clauses, definitions and terms relevant to drafting agreements.

Drafting and negotiating commercial contracts
(Bloomsbury Professional, 2016)
Guide to drafting and interpreting commercial contracts. Provides a background to and detailed advice on the law surrounding a wide range of commercial agreements.

To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to book loans.

You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports by post, fax or email through our document supply service.

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