ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the basic principles that make it necessary to get the contract correct. It then suggests some practical rules to assist in doing so. Modern economic life is based on contracts. The contract is the only practicable way of creating legal obligations to supply or pay. The contract is the tool that the modern market economy uses to ensure that goods and services can be bought and sold with confidence. English contract law, like all contract law, is very simple, even though it may not look that way. In the eyes of the law each contract is its own isolated stand-alone little world – even though the two parties may have had dozens of other similar contracts before, or may have agreements related to the project. Law only becomes complex or difficult in a few areas. The most important areas are: the precise rules governing liability, contract interpretation; and the rules and procedures surrounding litigation, arbitration and adjudication.
