COLLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DESIGN, ART AND TECHNOLOGY.

SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT.

DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT.
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT LAW.
10th March 2020

NAME: NAKALANZI LYNETTE MAUREEN

COURSE CODE: CMG 3204

STUDENT NUMBER: 217003604

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 17/U/7409/PS

COURSE: CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT LAW

LECTURER: MR. KATONGOLE GEORGE MARK

SIGNATURE:……………………………….
1 CONTRA PROFERENTUM

This is an “interpretation against the draftsman”. It is a concept of contractual interpretation

providing that, where an agreement is ambiguous, the preferred meaning should be the one
working against the interests of the party who provided the wording. This doctrine is applied to
situations involving standardized contracts or where the parties are of equal bargaining power.

Each party in the contract is ostensibly looking out for its own best interests and will want the
contract language to be to each party's favor. This can create scenarios in which the contract
language is ambiguous or unclear, leading one party to interpret the contract differently from the
other party. It is designed as a caveat as well as a penalty or legal punishment for introducing and
including an intentionally vague contract clause into a contract and encourage the drafter of the
contract to be as clear and explicit as possible, taking into account as many foreseeable situations
as it can . Therefore, it is applicable to situations where the language at issue is mandated by law
as is often the case with insurance contracts and bills of lading.

2 RIGHTS ENJOYED BY USING STANDARD FORM OF CONTRACTS

a) Time and cost: Standard forms of contract are favorable to the construction industry as
they facilitate the saving of both time (because it eliminates the scope for negotiation)
and cost (by eliminating the need for custom contracts for individual tenders).
b) Management of variations: The purpose of standardizing contract forms is mainly to
specify the chief variables concerning the construction processes and activities. It
prevents employer from making any changes without informing their clients.
c) Legal relationship: The contract forms establish the legal relationship between the parties,
in terms of rights, obligation and duties and regulate the relationship between the parties.
d) Risk accountability: The contracts account for all possible and probable risk factors as
well as clearly define the role of all involved parties. These aspects of the contract
facilitate in reducing the number of unwarranted disputes and litigations. The people in
these cases have become familiar with the terms of these contracts.
e) Dispute resolution: Over time, standard forms of contracts establish a body of laws that
can be referred by parties in case of disagreement over any issues.
 f) Project management and tendering: The FIDIC contracts provide a comprehensive code
which can be applied with ease in any legal system. The input has been provided from
both engineers with experience of many engineering projects and lawyers with wide array
of experience drafting construction contracts. The acquaintance with these contracts has
offered the construction industry benefits in both tendering and project management.

REFERENCES

Clegg, R.S., 1992, Contracts cause conflicts, In Construction Conflict Management and
Resolution, 25-27 September, UMIST, pp 128-144vv