Episode 6: The Ghost in the Machine? Good Faith in Contract after Re Compound Photonics

Join Andreas Gledhill KC as he explores the implications of the recent Court of Appeal decision Re Compound Photonics Group Ltd; Faulkner v. Vollin Holdings Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1371.

One of the most contentious issues in the law of obligations has been the role of good faith in contract law: 

1. When is an obligation of good faith implied? 
2. And in cases where it is either implied, or expressly agreed, what is its scope:  what standard of behaviour does a duty of good faith bind the parties to? 

Andreas addresses these issues, with particular reference to a decision of the Court of Appeal in October, in a case called Re Compound Photonics Group (referred to as “Compound”, for short).

In this case Andreas, supported by Timothy Lau at first instance, was successful in obtaining an important judgment in which the Court of Appeal clarified the content of the contractual duty of good faith, in the context of an unfair prejudice petition under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006.