A-Z of CONTRACTS
What’s In A Contract?
The answer is, lots of words! Some of those words have specific legal meanings and others describe the particular way the parties entering into the contract want to undertake business or have agreed arrangements between themselves. Generally any word in a contract that starts with a capital letter (other than a name of a person, place or business) is defined in the contract.
As we are often asked ‘what’s a warranty?’ or ‘what is force majeure?’ so we have put together this guide to some of the most common terms used in contracts. It isn’t meant to be legal advice and if you need specific advice, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
Contract Structure
Most contracts follow a familiar and well known structure, starting with definitions and ending by stating which law applies to the contract, and then on to the signatures.
Contracts are usually broken up with sub-headings. These sub-headings are often numbered sequentially or allocated a letter used alphabetically through the contract. Each sub-heading ‘frames’ the clauses that follow and highlight for you what to expect in the sub-clauses under heading. That’s fine when you know what you are looking for (and as lawyers, we do!) but a more helpful way to understand what’s in a contract when you start to look them is an alphabetical list of the sub-headings you will generally find in most contracts.
Click here for a full list of terms and their meanings for everything from Agreements to Governing Law. Look out for Part 2 of the guide coming soon…