The Authority of the Judge to Interpret the Contract

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to demonstrate the authority of the judge for interpretation; in particular with regard to elements set out by the legislator in the text of the article (239/2) of the Jordanian Civil Code. The judge may find, after presenting the contract before him/her to determine its content, that some of the contract’s terms need an interpretation; particularly that the interpretation leads to defining each contracting party’s obligations, and aims to reach the appropriate and most beneficial solution from a social perspective. In the conclusion of this study, researchers have reached several results, the most important of which, is that the judge must consider the plain meaning when interpreting the contract’s explicit term without deviating to the subtext. The study calls for restructuring of article 239 of the Jordanian Civil Code to be more explicit and comprehensive. Keywords: contract interpretation, judge's power to interpret, contract terms, content of the contract