Simon Whittaker

The European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (‘CESL’) seeks to create a European scheme of contract law available for parties to choose to govern cross-border contracts for the sale of goods, supply of ‘digital content,’ and for the supply of related services.This article explains the background to the Proposal, sketches out the purposes and scope of the CESL, and considers and criticises its legal framework (and in particular its relationship with private international law) and the key requirement of the parties’ agreement. In the author’s view, the CESL scheme remains an unconvincing basis for the achievement of its economic purposes and, as regards consumer contracts, puts too much reliance on the agreement of the consumer as a justification for the loss of their existing protection under EU private international law rules.

This article assesses the appropriateness of an 'optional instrument' in contract law foreseen by the European Commission

This article considers the scope, purposes and use of 'principle' by the contract law provisions of the Draft Common Frame of Reference

This translates the author's earlier work 'Precedent in English Law: A View from the Citadel' which explains the rules and some of the working out of the precedent by English judges to a non-common law readership.

The author explores some of the difficulties facing English lawyers in implementing EC directives in the area of 'contract law' and compares them with those facing lawyers in systems with codified laws.

This article considers the desirability of the development of sector-specific European standard contract terms and puts forward four main reasons why such a development should be given a cool reception.

This article compares the use in English and French law of two techniques for the control of the content of contracts: (i) the insertion of standard terms into contracts by law and (ii) the control of the fairness of agreed contract terms. It examines the relationship between these two and considers the different mixtures of public and private law which are revealed.

The article looks at issues relating to the harmonisation of contract law in the context of the decision of the HL in DGFT v First National Bank

Starting from an earlier article, this article compares judicial review of sub-ordinate legislation on the basis of public law principle and judicial review of the unfair contract terms of in consumer contracts. Similarities and differences in these two types of review are identified and their implication in the student context assessed.

This article explains and assess the category of 'contracts for services' in English law and its relationship to other contracts. It then compares this to the approach taken by the Draft Common Frame of Reference

The article analyses the law governing the effectiveness of entire agreement clauses in English law

This essay explores the validity of price variation clauses in English law

This work analyses the different types of contract terms which allow an injured party to terminate on the ground of breach of contract and explains and criticises the controls which statute and the courts have put in place to control them.

This article explores the impact of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive of 2005 on EC and national contract laws.

This work is also published in Italian as ‘‘La Terminologia della Tutela Civile: Diritti, Rimedi e Procedure’ in B. Pozzo and V. Jacometti (eds.), Le politische linguistiche delle istituzioni comunitarie dopo l’allargamento (2006) The work looks at the terminology describing the rights of parties in a contractual context in English, French and EC law and how this terminology reflects different ways of thinking about the appropriate response of the law to failure to perform

Continued updating and rewriting of chapters (including new section on the HRA and contracts).

compares the English and French approaches to a court's power to give a party to a contract further time to perform, with particular reference to payments of sums money

This article looks at the ways in which English law may be said to harm or burden third parties to contracts (or similar devices) through the use of particular doctrines, such as restrictive covenants or the tort of inducing breach of contract. It then looks briefly at the relationship between breach of contract and breach of trust from this perspective.

This article examines situations where common law or legislation accepts a degree of reciprocity of benefit and burden beyond privity of contract, but concludes that no pure principle of benefit and burden by which a person who takes the benefit of a transaction should also take the burden should be recognised.

This note assesses the decision of the UK Supreme Court in the 'Bank Charges' case in the light of the decision of the case-law of the ECJ