End-of-chapter questions: Answer Guidance 20.1

This is a general and wide-ranging question. It requires you to have a view on good faith, and evidence of wider reading and thinking is often key to achieving the highest marks on this sort of question. You should clearly engage with the recent English decisions on the subject—such as Yam Seng Pte Ltd v International Trade Corporation Ltd [2013] EWHC 111 (QB), [2013] 1 All ER (Comm) 1321, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust v Compass Group UK and Ireland Ltd (t/a Medirest) [2013] EWCA Civ 200 and Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd [2015] UKSC 17 – and bring in knowledge from all areas of contract law. Where the law seems too hard and unfair, should judges be able to invoke general notions such as good faith? Or is the more piecemeal approach of English law satisfactory? You might discuss a perceived tension between ‘certainty’ and ‘fairness’, and there are many different ways to write a good answer to this question.