In this article, Andrew Bowen QC considers the growing recognition within English Law that a duty of good faith might readily be implied in a relational contract. In Bates v The Post Office [2019] EWHC 606 (QB) (Judgment No.3, Common Issues) the first instance judge, Fraser J, reviewed the obligations of transparency and cooperation in the context of the bitterly fought Post Office Group litigation and supplemented previous decisions by providing a checklist of the typical characteristics of a relational contract.

This article was first published in Greens Business Law Bulletin, Issue 166 (published June 2020) and on Westlaw. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of Thomson Reuters.