What happens when contracting parties do not expressly provide for a particular situation in their agreement? Is intervention by the courts or legislature to fill gaps in contracts justified? How should those gaps be filled? This book is unique in the way it combines comparative and theoretical perspectives to provide answers to these questions. From a comparative law perspective, relatively little attention has been given to the different interpretative and gap filling techniques available in different legal systems. A comparison of the approach to contract interpretation and gap filling in England, Germany and the Netherlands is therefore provided in this book. Comparative observations are also made in light of the CISG, PECL and the Unidroit Principles for International Commercial Contracts. This book also contains a theoretical component that draws insights and inspiration from autonomy-based theories of contract, law and economics, notions of fairness and socio-legal perspectives to establish why contracting parties leave gaps in their contracts, whether intervention is justified and, if so, how gaps in contracts should be filled. The final part of this book builds on the comparative and theoretical perspectives to develop an interpretative and gap filling strategy that combines responses from contracting parties, the contracting community, the legislature and the courts.
About the Author: Nicole Kornet is since 2013 Associate Professor of Commercial Law at Maastricht University. She graduated from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 1997 with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and a Bachelor of Arts. In 1999, she graduated from Maastricht University with a master's degree in Comparative and European Law (cum laude) after participating in the Magister Iuris Communis programme. In September 1999, Nicole joined the private law department of Maastricht University as a junior lecturer. In 2006 she defended her doctoral dissertation entitled "Contract Interpretation and Gap Filling: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives" and was appointed as Assistant Professor of Commercial Law at Maastricht University. In September 2013 she was appointed as Associate Professor. Nicole is a fellow at the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI) and a member of its coordinating team. She is also a fellow at the Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR). Her research focuses on the impact of globalisation on international commercial contract law and practice, in particular on cross-cultural dimensions of international contracting.