Exemption clauses and implied terms in contracts

The current state of the law relating to exemption clauses has been described, fittingly, as "unmanageably complex". These complexities, in part, have stemmed from the past failure of the courts to recognise that examption clauses are an integral part of a contract and should not be ignored in assessing the rights and duties of the parties to the agreement. This thesis has two functions. One is to examine the role and function of exemption clauses in contracts and the choice of controls which can be imposed upon such clauses. The second function is to assess the desirability of reform of the terms implied, chiefly by the Sale of Goods Acts and the Trade Practices Act, in contracts. Since exemption clauses often exclude, restrict or modify implied terms discussion of these terms has been drawn into the body of the thesis. A postscript has been added to include changes foreshadowed by the Trade Practices Amendment Bill 1985 (Clth.) which are relevant to the main parts of the thesis. The law as stated is that applying on January 1, 1986