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Those who cherish the feel of {{tag|flannel}} close to the skin will take comfort in expressions like “[[all or substantially all]]”; “[[in whole or in part]]”, “[[one or more]]”; “[[unless otherwise agreed]]” . These expressions betray a fear that a judicial officer reading one’s prose will take a perversely literal view of it: that a court will construe your words deliberately to upset you; as the {{tag|Latin}}s say, “[[contra proferentem]]”. | Those who cherish the feel of {{tag|flannel}} close to the skin will take comfort in expressions like “[[all or substantially all]]”; “[[in whole or in part]]”, “[[one or more]]”; “[[unless otherwise agreed]]” . These expressions betray a fear that a judicial officer reading one’s prose will take a perversely literal view of it: that a court will construe your words deliberately to upset you; as the {{tag|Latin}}s say, “[[contra proferentem]]”. | ||
But the law of the land is not there to frustrate your | But the law of the land is not there to frustrate your [[reasonable]] commercial intentions. A court will only do that if your intentions were otherwise (as, to be sure, many a merchant’s will be if the opportunity arises to tilt the tables in his favour - Adam Smith had some choice things to say about that). If you exploit a counterparty’s vulnerability or patent misapprehension, expect to find the awesome creative weight of the common law – [[estoppel]], [[constructive trust]]; [[money had and received]], ''[[assumpsit]]'' – incanted against you. | ||
But as long as you don’t – if you act [[in good faith and a commercially reasonable manner]] and your love your neighbour as he loves himself; doing unto others only what you would have done unto yourself – you need not fear a wantonly literal construction. | |||
But as long as you don’t – if you act [[in good faith and a commercially reasonable manner]] and your | |||
If that ''is'' your caper, don’t expect words on paper, however exquisitely turned, to help you. | If that ''is'' your caper, don’t expect words on paper, however exquisitely turned, to help you. | ||