Don’t go small print
Some lawyers have this fixation with small prints of juridical acts. When it comes to Contracts, public tenders and notices their standing advice to their Clients is-mind the small print at the bottom! They have reason to. I am not slightly implying that small print specialists are scammers or something. Far from it they might even be celebrated as aces at their respective jobs.
But it goes without saying that they tend to conceal compromising clauses (most of the time disclaimers and legal compulsory disclosures statements but also in invoices, tenders, notices, GRN, insurance policies, renewal notices, bills of lading, voucher, warranty certificates etc.) in small fine prints at the bottom of the document.
Ambiguous contractual clauses are the ugly siblings of fine prints.
You know something like limiting the duration of the Contract in the main body and noting in small print the Contract is deemed renewed for indefinite period of time if business isn’t interrupted post limitation.
For an outsourcing Company requiring clarity of terms and an express agreement is certain to save it from the dire consequences of murky legal complications that regulate the business owing to multiple parties and stakeholders involved in the transactions.
You Doubt it? Define it!
You feel like a term used in a contract is liable to be taken out of context or could imply the unintended? Define it in the contract! No institute of philology or legal lexicon puritan or linguist is going to hold you accountable, all you have to insert is the safety valve qualifier- ‘unless otherwise…’
Set the Objective of the Contract
This rather comes across as dry and text bookish if not stoical, right? It sure smacks of the opening provisions of Book IV Title XII of the Civil Code, I know. However believe me it might actually become a life saver when the good magistrates pore over stacks of contract documents to ‘determine the original intentions of the high contracting parties’.
Limit the Scope
You see, you might end up ‘doing quarries’ after agreeing to clear bushes, twigs and undergrowth in a given premises’ or end up cleaning a sprawling compound assuming you would do a small space adjacent or in close vicinities to buildings…unless you take the trouble to limit the scope of your contractual obligation in simple clear and unambiguous terms.
Your Word might not be your bond
At the end of the day, that indeed might be the case. A partnership forged with pomp and splendor at the Sheraton might culminate in a face-off at our own Old Bailey, Lideta that is. Hence as the saying goes it is wise to trust…still tether the Camel (አላህንም እመን ግመልህንም እሰር).
On this one I am certain Finance Dept. seconds me. They don’t want ‘source document’ so much as as they crave it. Who blames them? As the saying goes-ወረቀት የያዘዉ…
In the old days committing agreements to paper was tantamount to distrusting a business partner. Not only here in Ethiopia but in the civilized industrialized Western world. They would think nothing of advancing a hefty loan by simply exacting the verbal assurance “My word is my bond”.
No lawyer, no wordsmith, no talk of risk transfer or management no nothing but your simple honest word is your bond of performance. It is like our folks say- lose a child but not a word solemnly given.
But in modern business written disclosure, written contracts, written testaments are your quintessential reinsurance against potential breach. That is why our legal system attaches little significance to verbal testimony that tries to counter written documents when it comes to proof of contract even when there is no validity requirement as such.
God Bless.
Disclaimer- Views hosted on NGLHSM website aren’t necessarily that of the Company (Note that this disclaimer isn’t in fine print)
