Richard Hooley spoke to us this lunchtime about exemption clauses.
Interpretation
He began by quoting from Andrew Burrows’ A Restatement of the English Law of Contract (which has recently been updated) and its excellent summary of contractual interpretation. Paraphrased it says:
Ask what the clause, “viewed in the light of the whole contract, would mean to a reasonable person having all the relevant background knowledge reasonably available to the parties at the time the contract was made”.
When doing this consider the (a) natural meaning of the words used (b) the overall purpose of the clause and the contract (c) the facts and circumstances known by the parties and (d) commercial common sense.