The SLS Hale Lecture

Exeter Law School is delighted to host the Society of Legal Scholars’ second Hale Lecture

Covid, Contracts and Change of Circumstances

This lecture will examine the role played by the doctrine of frustration in cases arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider, in the light of comparative law, whether English contract law should be changed in order to enable it to meet the needs of commercial parties dealing with a significant change of circumstances, such as the pandemic.

While the formal structure of English contract law has not so far been altered as a result of case law arising from the pandemic, the lecture will draw attention to some more informal means of encouraging responsible contractual behaviour in the performance and enforcement of contracts impacted by the pandemic, such as the guidance issued by the Cabinet Office, and it will consider the causes of the enactment of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022.

In doing so, consideration will be given to the question whether these alternative techniques are a preferable way of developing the law rather than liberalising the doctrine of frustration.

Ewan McKendrick, BCL, MA, LLB (Edinburgh), KC (Hon) is Emeritus Professor of English Private Law at the University of Oxford and Professor of Anglo-American Law at the University of Leiden. He is a Bencher of Gray's Inn and a member of chambers at 3 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn. He was the Registrar of the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2018.

Audience

This event is for SLS members, invited University of Exeter staff and students, plus personally invited individuals. 

Itinerary 

• 17:30 - Admission to Zoom for online attendees
• 17:45 - Guest Lecture by Professor Ewan McKendrick

Registration

Please register using the 'register' link on this page. You will only be sent the Zoom link once you have registered.

Respect

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