Terms of exclusion or limitation of contractual liability under English civil law

• Pages: 23-35

23

Vol. 10 No. 1

March, 2024

Academic Journal of Business, Administration

Law and Social Sciences

E-ISSN 2410-8693

ISSN 2410-3918

Research Article

© 2024 Luan Hasneziri

This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Terms of exclusion or limitation of contractual liability under English civil

law

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luan Hasneziri

Albanian University, Tirana, Albania

DOI: hps://doi.org/10.2478/ajbals-2024-0003

Abstract

English contract law pays great aention to the terms of exclusion or limitation of contractual

liability that the parties may provide in a contract. This is due to the fact that these terms can

be considered as a social problem, since they are a means by which the contracting parties

seek to avoid liability for non-fulllment of contractual obligations. In this sense, these terms

constitute an easy way for the contracting party, which is stronger, to exclude itself from

liability to the other party. This is especially true in consumer related contracts.

The purpose of this paper is to address how these terms are regulated by doctrine and

jurisprudence in England. This paper consists of two main cases. In the rst case, the content

and features of the terms of exclusion or limitation of contractual liability will be analyzed

according to common law or judicial practice in England. It is understood that in this case, at

the center of aention will be the analysis of the decisions of courts of dierent levels or the

analysis of judicial precedents, since it is the laer that gives the meaning and content of these

terms.

In the second case, the terms of exclusion or limitation of contractual liability will be analyzed

in general, according to the English law: “The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977”. Here we will

specically analyze the reasons that drove the legislators in England to pass this law, as well

as address some of the main provisions of this law, as well as the impact they have had on

judicial practice. Also, special aention will be paid to the cases of English judicial practice in

relation to the correct and exact meaning of the concrete provisions of this law.

Keywords: contractual freedom, terms of exclusion of contractual liability, common law,

unfair terms of the contract, contractual good faith.

1. Introduction

English contract law is distinguished for the protection of the autonomy of the will

of the parties in concluding contracts, especially those related to the eld of business

and trade, where the purpose of their conclusion is the generation of revenue and the