Axiological Conditions Determining the Selection of Interpretative Criteria in the Contemporary Models of Contract Interpretation

Abstract

Abstract

The issue of contractual interpretation, examined in both definitional and methodological terms, proves to be substantially related to the private law axiology, including the value system underlying the law of obligations. Special regard needs to be given to the elementary adequacy test, requiring that all the ?explanatory reasons? of a contract be considered in the course of interpretation. Assessing the impact of axiological determinants on the manner in which interpretative rules applicable to contracts are structured in particular legal orders shall be reckoned a significant research question, taking note especially of the recodification tendencies in the private law sphere. The findings following from such an analysis can serve as a persuasive argument in the ongoing debate on the prospects for and potential directions of change to contract law paradigm in view of a crisis affecting some of its concepts as a result of private law decodification process. Parallelly, what warrants a critical survey with respect to the axiological background on which contractual interpretation tends to be premised is the advancing furtherance of algorithmisation in the transactional practice. In order to provide an overview of the most recent tendencies in the axiologically conditioned arrangement of contract interpretation models, it is appropriate to integrate the retrospective approach and elements of the comparative study aimed at confronting both civil law and common law frameworks.