A contract is only as strong as the meaning a court will give it, and that meaning is found objectively rather than in what the parties privately intended. This chapter starts with the nature of interpretation and the three routes by which terms are incorporated — signature, notice and course of dealing — before setting out the modern framework of natural meaning, the factual matrix and commercial common sense. It then looks at what evidence is admissible, including the parol evidence rule and entire agreement clauses, and at how exclusion clauses are construed, from the three-step approach to negligence through contra proferentem to the absolute bar on excluding liability for death or personal injury. It closes with ambiguous and unfair terms in consumer contracts, the priority rules for inconsistent provisions, and the courts' tools for filling gaps and correcting errors: implied terms, rectification and non est factum.
