Arbitration Clauses in Commercial Contracts: Enforceable or a Trap?
When two businesses sign a contract, they rarely think about what happens if things go wrong. Buried in the boilerplate, an arbitration clause can quietly redirect any future dispute away from the courts and into a private process governed by a different set of rules. Sometimes that works in both parties’ favour. Sometimes it does […]
Suretyship agreements: What are they and what are the requirements
A deed of suretyship is an agreement that is concluded by a creditor and a third party. The essentialia of this type of agreement are that the surety (third party) undertakes to be liable to the creditor for the due performance by the debtor of his or her obligations in terms of the principal debt. […]
Relying on vis major clause in a contract in times of COVID-19
Vis major clauses Many businesses will seek to rely on the enforcement of vis major clauses to relieve their performance of certain obligations resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. The term vis major refers to an event or occurrence, which renders contractual performance impossible. These clauses allow a contracting party to escape the normal consequences of non-performance or late performance […]