The Parol Evidence Rule Of Australia

This purpose of this report is to write an essay on the Parole Evidence Rule according to the contract law of Australia. This report will also explain the application of the parole evidence rule in which parties engaged them by a written contract as legally comprehensible and transparent. The enforcement of the parole evidence rule’s main aim is to avoid the occurrence of fraud, bribery, and false witness in court by allowing the partly written contracts and written parts of partly oral as evidence in justification (Wahana, 2018). This paper describes the significance and need of the parole evidence rule. Unwritten evidence or contemporaneous negotiations between the parties provided orally by mouth is needed to apply the Parole Evidence Rule under the contract law of Australia.

Parole Evidence Rule

The word parole comes from the Anglo-Norman French parole that means is a mouth, oral, or verbal that related to the oral pleadings in an Australian court case. In terms of history, the parole evidence rule origin lies in English contract law, but has been adopted in contract law of Australia. The main purpose of the parole evidence rule in Australia is to prevent fraudulent claims and protect the rights of the parties (Wahana, 2018). Parole evidence rule protects a party to present the evidence against the opponent in the written and partly written form like partly oral and partly written form those tried to deny or refuse to fulfil his promise, duty, or obligation to the party. In general, if a written and partly written partly oral contract agreement has been signed by the parties then the parties cannot avoid or quit to perform their promise, duty, or obligation under the parole evidence rule in Australia (Wahana, 2018).

The parole evidence rule has played a major role in a deal with the controversial element of the Australian contract law system to include the partly written contracts and written parts of partly oral as evidence in justification of the agreement made in between parties (Wahana, 2018). In the past times, only written and signed arguments or contacts with all terms and conditions are considered a valid contract and valid evidence in justification of the agreement made between parties. In the past times, many disputes arise the Australian court will accept no verbal evidence and a particle written contract that is created the need for changes in the contract law and application of the parole evidence rule in Australia. Therefore, some exceptions are introduced and are acceptable by Australian courts where parties are allowed to give verbal evidence and partial written or partial oral evidence in case of happening of mistake, fraud, etc. These exceptions are covered in the parole evidence rule under the contract law of Australia (National Paralegal College, 2022).

Most of the contractual disputes are related to the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract law of Australia. To resolve contractual disputes between the parties the Australian courts normally look at the terms of the written contracts, partly written contracts, or written parts of partly oral. The parole evidence rule is applied to contracts between two or more parties in the written form, partly written form, and written parts of partly oral form. The parole evidence rule is used to identify what actual promises happened between the parties at that time while the contract was formed and signed (National Paralegal College, 2022). The contract law of Australia is explained that if parties made a false declaration then there is no compensation and no rights.

Parole evidence rule in Australia is not applied in case of an incomplete written contract like some terms are not included or missing in the written or signed contract then the parties may allow giving verbal evidence in an Australian court. It is a case of the partly written partly oral contract that is covered under the parole evidence rule in Australia.

Furthermore, the Contract Law of Australia is based on the common Law System of England was amended in 1980s in Australian Parliament in order to help common people related to contract agreement. The effectiveness of the Parole Evidence Rule from amendment in 1980 can be identified as addressing the issues of ages when any contract are considered under the Australian contract law (National Paralegal College, 2022). However, the parole evidence rule has been controversial many times in Australia. The development of the parole evidence rule in Australian contract law has some concerns raised by the supporters in recent time related to its proper statue/regular usage.

The parole evidence rule is beneficial to the parties because of its application in the case of putting evidence with final agreement in writing, but is important that the written contract should be complete and final. The Australian Contract Law also stated that extra evidence cannot be accepted after final submission of written agreement in the court because extra evidence can contradict or modify the written contract. For example, when a sale of a home between buyer and seller is made and has signed in written contract and there is a dispute on the sales price more than agreed sales price, the buyer cannot introduce any evidence in such case about the past discussion (Institute of Public Law, 2022). Such type of evidence is based on “the outside evidence rule” and it cannot be considered in place of a written contract.

At this stage, the parole evidence rule is valid only in the case of written contract. The outside evidence rule cannot be considered in written contract where evidence is not related to a contract and absence in the body of the contract. The parole evidence rule stated that valid evidence should be in written promises after conducting discussion and oral agreements to make a final decision. Therefore, the contract must be in complete integration in order to show evidence in the court.

The limitations of the parole evidence rule can also be seen in the case of the extrinsic evidence and it cannot be included in the contract law to show evidence. The evidence of any letter and draft of a party cannot be considered as the valid evidence instead of written agreement because letter or draft in written stage is related to the process of earlier stages of negotiation not the final agreement or overall contract (Institute of Public Law, 2022). The terms and conditions also assure a true and valid scope of the written contract according to the Australian Contract Law.

Conclusion:

After writing an essay on the Parole Evidence Rule according to the contract law of Australia, it can be stat that the enforcement of the parole evidence rule is related to avoid the occurrence of fraud, bribery, and false witness in court by allowing the partly written contracts and written parts of partly oral as evidence in justification. The parole evidence rule origin lies in English contract law, but has been adopted in contract law of Australia in order to address issue of contract controversies between two parties. Most of the contractual disputes are related to the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract law of Australia. Most of the contractual disputes are related to the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract law of Australia. The Australian Contract Law also stated that extra evidence cannot be accepted after final submission of written agreement in the court because extra evidence can contradict or modify the written contract.

References

Institute of Public Law. (2022). THE PAROL EVIDENCE RULE. Retrieved from: http://jec.unm.edu/education/online-training/contract-law-tutorial/the-parol-evidence-rule

National Paralegal College. (2022). Contract Law: The Parol Evidence Rule. Retrieved from: https://lawshelf.com/shortvideoscontentview/contract-law-the-parol-evidence-rule

Wahana, P. S. (2018). Parol Evidence Rule Doctrin as the Limitation for the Parties in Submitting Evidence Before the Court. Yuridika, 33(3), 417-438.