English Law Concepts in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

James Bremen

April 2009

A paper presented to the Society of Construction Law at a meeting in London on 7th April 2009.

James Bremen's paper seeks to provide a guide to the application of established English law concepts in the Gult Cooperation Council countries (GCC) jurisdictions and to highlight important similarities and differences. He considers the law that might apply to a construction contract in the GCC countries, the types of legal regime and the differences between common law and civil law systems. He then goes on to look at the significance of the freedom of contract doctrine in English law, before considering in more detail the application of a number of particular principles.

Introduction - Freedom of contract - Guillotine clauses - The prevention principle - The rule against penalties: liquidated damages - The contra proferentem rule - Remoteness of damage - Estoppel by conduct - Without prejudice privilege - Conclusion.

The author: James Bremen is a partner in the projects and construction department of King & Spalding International, London.

Text 6 pages.

PDF file size: 82k