Interpretation… the Jamaican way

See further DP No 147 Chapter 4

The recent decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Thompson v Goblin Hill Hotels Limited [2011] UKPC 8, 10 March 2011, an appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica, is concerned with the correct approach to interpreting a series of provisions in a lease and a company's articles of association.  The Privy Council found that the plain and ordinary meaning of words used in a contract could only be displaced if they produced a commercial absurdity.  For this main proposition, reliance was placed on the dictum of Lord Diplock in Antaios Cia Naviera SA v Salen Rederierna AB, "The Antaios" [1985] AC 191.  Having established the law, however, the Board did not agree with the Jamaican Court of Appeal that such a commercial absurdity did result from the wording of the contracts and the appeal was allowed.