The article analyses the recent reform of contract law in France. The section of the Civil Code on the law of contract was amended and restructured in its entirety last year. The revised section came into force on 1 October 2016. The article considers its main innovations and compares them with the corresponding principles of English law and some contract law international instruments, mainly the UNIDROIT Principles and the Principles of European Contract Law. The article also assesses whether the new provisions achieve their stated aim of rendering French contract law more accessible, predictable, influential abroad and commercially attractive.
The article focuses on the “legitimate interest in performance” requirement which is now at the heart of the new test on penalty clauses but which has been left undefined by the Supreme Court in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi and ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2016]. It seeks to bring clarity to what is meant by “legitimate interest in performance” by examining other areas of the law of remedies for breach of contract where concepts of legitimate interest have featured in the court’s reasoning. It also makes suggestions as to what considerations are or might be relevant in determining whether a contracting party has a legitimate interest in performance, in particular a legitimate interest that goes beyond compensation.
ABSTRACT. The article focuses on whether, when considering whether to award cost of cure damages, the courts take account of what the injured promisee to a breach of contract does, or intends to do, with his damages award, and whether or not they should take account of it. This issue has given rise to divergent approaches and some confusion in the cases. The article seeks to shed new light on the issue and considers possible ways of resolving the confusion.
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