Chapter 11 Self-test questions

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. In his speech in Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v. West Bromwich Building Society [1998] 1 WLR 896, Lord Hoffmann alluded to a 'fundamental change' that had taken place in contract law. What 'fundamental change' was he referring to?

A rise in the number of cases raising issues of interpretation correct incorrect

A move from a 'literalist to a purposive approach' to statutory interpretation correct incorrect

A move towards an approach based on the adoption of the 'natural and ordinary meaning of the words' correct incorrect

To assimilate the way in which contractual documents are interpreted to the common sense principles by which any serious utterance would be interpreted in ordinary life. correct incorrect

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. Which of the following best describes what Lord Hoffmann intended when he referred to the 'matrix of fact' in his restatement of the principles of contract interpretation in Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v. West Bromwich Building Society [1998] 1 WLR 896?

Absolutely any evidence which might have affected the way in which the document would have been understood by a reasonable man correct incorrect

All evidence of the factual context in which the contract was made, but not the state of the law correct incorrect

Any evidence which the reasonable man would have thought relevant to his understanding of the meaning of the document correct incorrect

All limits on the evidence usually admissible for the purposes of contract interpretation should be lifted correct incorrect

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. Is the following statement true or false? Pre-contractual negotiations are generally inadmissible in evidence when seeking to interpret a contract.

True correct incorrect

False correct incorrect

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. In those cases in which the courts take commercial common sense into account when interpreting a contract, at what point in time are they required to invoke commercial common sense?

At the time of the hearing before the court correct incorrect

At the time of the alleged breach of contract correct incorrect

At the time of entry into the contract correct incorrect