back

by Rochus·5y ago·view on hn ↗
No, the Anglo-Saxon law (US, UK, etc.) is different and makes no assumptions outside of the contract; the contract is applied verbatim as written, and when something is missing, it is not part of the contract. In Europe on the other hand the contract is just one piece of the puzzle and the judge can add, remove or modify clauses in search of the true pary intentions; in case of conflicting elements, the judge may refer to what is applicable under the usual rules for such contracts and even change the contract type. That's why Tivoization with GPL v2 is unquestionably legal in USA, but there is still a certain legal uncertainty in Europe, because there is no supreme court decision.

EDIT: clarifications

1 comments
> and when something is missing, it is not part of the contract.

What if a clause is ambiguous to benefit both parties equally, but not at the same time? Are both parties forbidden to act on their own in those cases?

There is no general answer. The judge decides and instructs the parties how to proceed. Contracts in Anglo-Saxon countries are usually much larger and regulate many more eventualities than one is used to in Europe. It is then usually a matter of presenting evidence in the sense of the specific wording of the contract.