Variations 51.1

Razi,

Comes from 2 Austrailian court cases:

Carr v A Berriman Ltd (1953) 89 CLR 327
Commissioner for Main Roads v Reed Stuart Ltd (1974) 48 AJLR

later followed in England:

Amec Building Ltd v Cadmus Investment Ltd (1996) 13 Constr LJ 50

Bottom line, a contract can give a CA the power to omit work but not to omit work and give it to another contractor.

If he does the original contractor can recover his lost profit and I would argue Head Office and Overheads. It is unlikely to be a variation but a breach of contract.

Hope this helps

Thanks Andrew.

I also just read about the Amec Building Ltd v Cadmus Investment Ltd case.

But one another question!

Could ruling of one court of one country be taken as precedence in another country ?

Cheers,

Razi,

Not precedent, persuavive only - but you will find those countries that share the common law system will readilly quote cases from other common law countries on the same topic. The superiority of the court the decision came from will be important - eg a decision of the Austrailian Supreme Court will carry more weight than one of the lower courts etc.

Austrailia, Canada, England, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, USA, Ireland, Scotland, etc - you will find all these quoted in cases in the other countries, often followed but not always - and that’s where you’ve got to be on your guard. Same goes for Statutes and the resulting law - often simlar but with slight differences that are more applicable to the country in question.

As for Kuwait, firstly what is the law applicable to the contract and if local law, then do a bit of research to see if similar rules apply.