As a general rule of Scottish law, extrinsic evidence of the parties’ intention as to whether or not they intended to be bound by obligations which they have entered into in writing is inadmissible. There may however be exceptional cases.
For a plea of error to succeed, it had to be shown that there was uninduced unilateral error going to the ‘substantials’ of the contract.
A party must take his contract as bearing whatever meaning the court will assign to it when it is called upon to interpret it. He is bound ‘by the interpretation which a court of law may put upon the language of the instrument.’
Judges:
Lord Watson
Citations:
[1890] UKHL 1, (1890) 17 R (HL) 25, (1890) LR 15 App Cas 108
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Cited by:
Cited – Percy v Church of Scotland Board of National Mission HL 15-Dec-2005
The claimant appealed after her claim for sex discrimination had failed. She had been dismissed from her position an associate minister of the church. The court had found that it had no jurisdiction, saying that her appointment was not an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract
Updated: 04 July 2022; Ref: scu.236514