Negligence and the Unfair Contract Terms Act: Experiences in Hong Kong and Singapore compared

• Main Author: LAU, Kwan Ho
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Commercial Law; Contracts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3443
• Institution: Singapore Management University

It has been over four decades since the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 was enacted to address, among other things, the enforceability of exemption provisions in respect of liability for negligence. This legislation also eventually became the model for similar statutory intervention in Hong Kong and Singapore. With the courts in these two jurisdictions now having more than 20 years of independent experience with the legislation, it is opportune to survey the cases there which have discussed it in the context of an action in tortious negligence, in order to identify any trends in judicial reasoning and possible points of departure. The results may also be relevant if and when the continued utility of the legislation is examined in the future.