The issue of good faith in commercial contracts is an area in which the English courts have been very active recently. The concept of relational contracts is now part of English law and what we have seen is the English courts further defining this concept. Additionally, we are seeing judges seeking both to expand the application of this doctrine and implying duties of good faith into commercial contracts but also other judges pushing back to limit the application of implied duties of good faith into such contracts. This is a dynamic concept and is not going to go away.

In this episode, litigation counsel Helen Biggin, litigation consultant Peter Watson and structured asset finance senior associate Chris Mitchell discuss why businesses should be concerned to know whether or not their contractual rights are inhibited by concepts of good faith. What is a relational contract? Is the duty of good faith now automatically applied to carefully negotiated contracts? And if it is, how does the good faith duty impact the relationship between contract parties?