Originally from:
Remedies for International Sellers of Goods - 2nd Edition - Looseleaf
Remedies for International Sellers of Goods - 2nd Edition - Electronic
Cyprus
Olga Georgiades
Lellos P Demetriades Law Office
Nicosia, Cyprus
Interpretation of Sales Contract
In General
Definition of 'Contract'
Freedom of contract is a fundamental principle of Cypriot contract law protected by
article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, which provides that every person
has the right to enter freely into any contract subject to certain conditions, limitations or
restrictions as are laid down by the general principles of the law of contract.Within this
framework, the Contract Law, Cap 149, as amended, provides in section 10 that:
All agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of parties competent
to contract, for lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and are not
hereby expressly declared to be void, and may, subject to the provisions of this
Law, be made in writing, or by word of mouth, or partly in writing and partly by
word of mouth, or may be implied from the conduct of the parties.
The Sale of Goods Law of 1994, as amended,1 has been enacted specifically for contracts
involving the sale of goods. The Law defines a contract for the sale of goods as one by
means of which the seller transfers or accepts to transfer to the buyer the ownership of
goods for a price.
Application of English Common Law
As a general rule of construction, according to section 2 of the ContractLaw, theContractLaw:
. . . shall be interpreted in accordance with the principles of legal interpretation
obtaining in England, and expressions used in it shall be presumed, so far as is consistent
with their context, and except as may be otherwise expressly provided, to be
used with the meaning attaching to them in English law and shall be construed in
accordance therewith.
The principles of equity formulated by the courts in England also have been adopted and
applied in Cypriot law where these concern the law of contracts.
