Gerard McMeel KC is a leading commercial law scholar and practitioner, and has been a Professor at the Universities of Bristol, Manchester, and Reading. At Reading, he is Director of the Centre for Commercial Law and Financial Regulation. He has held numerous visiting positions, most recently as Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore. Gerard was at the forefront of modern scholarship on contractual construction, and has been an influential critic of the excesses of contractual estoppel. After two decades of trial and appellate advocacy he was successful in the 2019 Queen's Counsel competition, and appointed silk in 2020. Gerard practises from Quadrant Chambers.

Student contract law is all about offer and acceptance, consideration and discharge, all flowing in a neat chronological fashion. Things change, though, as you move from theory and training into practice. Whether as draftsman or litigator, it is the meaning of words that often forms the battleground between contracting parties. McMeel takes on that difficult task of applying an in-depth scholarly analysis to contemporary problems in contract, but at the same time has produced a work that has real practical application. ...we need work like McMeel more than ever.

• I THE GENERAL PART 1: Principles and Policy 2: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives 3: The Objective Principle of Construction 4: Internal Context: The Whole Contract Approach 5: External Context: Surrounding Circumstances, 'Matrix', and 'Background' 6: Standard Form Contracts and Standard Provisions or 'Boilerplate Clauses' 7: Presumptions 8: Maxims II RELATED DOCTRINES 9: Implication of Terms: General Principles 10: Implication of Terms at Law: Standard Incidents, Mandatory Rules, and Default Rules 11: Implication of Terms in Fact: Contractual Gap Filling 12: Custom, Usage and Trade Practice 13: New Horizons: Relational Contracts, Obligations of Good Faith, and Constraining Contractual Discretions 14: Formation and Certainty 15: Incorporation and Proof of Terms 16: Parties, Third Party Effects, and Clauses Precluding Assignment 17: Rectification and Correcting Mistakes through Construction 18: Estoppel by Convention and Estoppel by Deed 19: Construction and Mistake as a Vitiating Factor III PARTICULAR CONTRACTUAL PROVISIONS 20: Conditions, Warranties, and Indemnities 21: Exemption Clauses and Unfair Contract Terms 22: Change of Circumstances and Force Majeure Clauses 23: Restriction of Variation and Waiver (or 'No Oral Modification') Clauses 24: Express Termination Clauses and Other Modifications of Remedies 25: Payment Provisions, Agreed Damages Clauses, and the Penalty Rule 26: Time Stipulations 27: The Integrity of the Instrument: 'Entire Agreement' and 'Non-Reliance' Clauses 28: Dispute Resolution: Choice of Court Agreements, Choice of Law, Arbitration, and Alternative Dispute Resolution IV RULES RELATING TO WRITTEN CONTRACTS 29: The Status of Instruments: Forgeries, Deliberate Alteration, Non Est Factum, and Shams V CONSTRUCTIONS AND PRACTICE 30: Evidence and Practice

Gerard McMeel KC is a leading commercial law scholar and practitioner, and has been a Professor at the Universities of Bristol, Manchester, and Reading. At Reading, he is Director of the Centre for Commercial Law and Financial Regulation. He has held numerous visiting positions, most recently as Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore. Gerard was at the forefront of modern scholarship on contractual construction, and has been an influential critic of the excesses of contractual estoppel. After two decades of trial and appellate advocacy he was successful in the 2019 Queen's Counsel competition, and appointed silk in 2020. Gerard practises from Quadrant Chambers.

Student contract law is all about offer and acceptance, consideration and discharge, all flowing in a neat chronological fashion. Things change, though, as you move from theory and training into practice. Whether as draftsman or litigator, it is the meaning of words that often forms the battleground between contracting parties. McMeel takes on that difficult task of applying an in-depth scholarly analysis to contemporary problems in contract, but at the same time has produced a work that has real practical application. ...we need work like McMeel more than ever.

• I THE GENERAL PART 1: Principles and Policy 2: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives 3: The Objective Principle of Construction 4: Internal Context: The Whole Contract Approach 5: External Context: Surrounding Circumstances, 'Matrix', and 'Background' 6: Standard Form Contracts and Standard Provisions or 'Boilerplate Clauses' 7: Presumptions 8: Maxims II RELATED DOCTRINES 9: Implication of Terms: General Principles 10: Implication of Terms at Law: Standard Incidents, Mandatory Rules, and Default Rules 11: Implication of Terms in Fact: Contractual Gap Filling 12: Custom, Usage and Trade Practice 13: New Horizons: Relational Contracts, Obligations of Good Faith, and Constraining Contractual Discretions 14: Formation and Certainty 15: Incorporation and Proof of Terms 16: Parties, Third Party Effects, and Clauses Precluding Assignment 17: Rectification and Correcting Mistakes through Construction 18: Estoppel by Convention and Estoppel by Deed 19: Construction and Mistake as a Vitiating Factor III PARTICULAR CONTRACTUAL PROVISIONS 20: Conditions, Warranties, and Indemnities 21: Exemption Clauses and Unfair Contract Terms 22: Change of Circumstances and Force Majeure Clauses 23: Restriction of Variation and Waiver (or 'No Oral Modification') Clauses 24: Express Termination Clauses and Other Modifications of Remedies 25: Payment Provisions, Agreed Damages Clauses, and the Penalty Rule 26: Time Stipulations 27: The Integrity of the Instrument: 'Entire Agreement' and 'Non-Reliance' Clauses 28: Dispute Resolution: Choice of Court Agreements, Choice of Law, Arbitration, and Alternative Dispute Resolution IV RULES RELATING TO WRITTEN CONTRACTS 29: The Status of Instruments: Forgeries, Deliberate Alteration, Non Est Factum, and Shams V CONSTRUCTIONS AND PRACTICE 30: Evidence and Practice