Quick facts about the Unfair Contracts Relief Project
February 2, 2017
BY Kevin Zakreski
This post is part of a series highlighting four projects endorsed in the Agenda for Justice 2017 published by the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch. To read the other posts in the series click here.
About the project
BCLI’s Unfair Contracts Relief Project:
- was carried out from 2009 to 2011 with the assistance of a seven-person volunteer project committee;
- was supported by the Law Foundation of British Columbia;
- featured a five-month consultation, which allowed the public to comment on 46 proposals for reform;
- culminated in a final report containing draft legislation illustrating its recommendations, called the Contract Fairness Act.
What will the Contract Fairness Act do?
The Contract Fairness Act will:
- clarify ambiguities in the contract-law concepts of unconscionability, duress, and undue influence, and provide a framework for integrating these three concepts;
- provide that the duty of good faith is implied in the performance of all contracts and define what “good faith” means for the purposes of this duty;
- fine-tune the law of contractual misrepresentation, primarily by addressing remedial anomalies in the current law.
Why should the legislature enact it?
The Contract Fairness Act will benefit British Columbians by:
- providing a clearer and more accessible statement of the law;
- ensuring that this area of contract law keeps pace with social and economic developments;
- giving the courts enhanced remedial flexibility to tackle unfair contracts.
For more information on the Unfair Contracts Relief Project, please visit the project webpage.
