The word “from” in contracts
- By : Wong Mei Ying
- Category : Drafting, Linkedin Post, Mergers and Acquisitions
Early in my career, an investment banker asked me how to calculate the number of days specified in a sale and purchase agreement for an M&A transaction.
The agreement required Party A to do something not later 30 days from [specified date].
Does the 30 days include the specified date or start on the next day?
I did not have a conclusive answer for that agreement.
I learned to include an interpretation clause along the following lines in contracts to avoid ambiguity.
๐๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ [๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ/๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ] ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ข๐บ.
Donโt forget to define โBusiness Dayโ.
#malaysiancorporatelawyer
#contractdrafting
#mergersandacquisitions
This post was first posted on Linkedin on 2 May 2022.
