Duty Of Good Faith In Australia

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An implied duty of good faith is to ensure an acceptable level of co operation and fairness in contract performance. It is used to preclude any unfair conduct in the course of performing a contract or exercising contractual powers. The High Court of Australia has not yet decided whether or not Australian law should recognize a duty of good faith which applies to the performance of all contracts. However, a duty of good faith has been recognized by lower courts in a number of cases. The concept of good faith should not be viewed as irrelevant and unnecessary as it encompasses the value of ensuring that contracts are performed with fairness, however not all contracts should encompass this principle. Rather, the courts need to look at the particular contract to see whether there is a concept of good faith and whether this term should be implied or whether it is excluded by express terms. As outlined by Elizabeth …show more content…

In Burger King and Alcatel Australia Ltd v Scarcella the Court of Appeal was dealing with a commercial contract and, in both instances, the court was prepared to imply a term of good faith in contractual performance and enforcement. Unfortunately, the mere fact that a commercial contract was involved in both instances has resulted in these decisions being accepted as a precedent for a legally wider proposition. The decision in Burger King was repeatedly cited by judges at first instance in New South Wales as authority for the proposition that a duty of good faith will be inferred in all commercial contracts. However, at no stage was this proposition expressly stated by the Court of Appeal in either Alcatel Australia Ltd v Scarcella or Burger King. Although the Court of Appeal in Burger King did state the two tests for implication of a contractual term as a matter of law, they merely seemed to satisfy themselves that the second test of necessity was

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