Good Faith and Certainty in Contract Law

Does a general principle of good faith create too much uncertainty in Contract Law? This article provides in-depth consideration of the controversy around this question.Reviewing a number of common arguments and reasonswhy good faith is said to be too uncertain, and responses to these, the article finds a complex picture rather than a simple answer. Recent Canadian experience with recognising a general principle of good faith in contractual performance suggests that at least two further details are critical to the potential for uncertainty: first, whether good faith operates as a freestanding duty or instead functions as a unifying principle that animates and explains more specific obligations in specific contexts; and secondly, whether recourse to the general principle as a basis for challenging or reforming a recognised set of specific duties is readily available or more guarded to balance interests in stability and predictability with the law’s inevitable need to develop.