International Construction Law Review
Book Reviews
The FIDIC Form of Contract.
Third Edition. By Dr Nael G Bunni. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1010: 1–4051–2031–2. 786 pp., inc. appendices plus tables and index. Hardback. £99.50.
The first edition of this very well known work was published in 1991 and was reprinted three times. The second edition was published in 1997 and was reprinted four times, the last as recently as 2004. That proves the demand for and popularity of Dr Bunni’s excellent book. Not surprisingly the third edition is a further development on the same lines as the first two editions.
The most significant—and long expected—addition is the discussion of the four forms of contract published by FIDIC in 1999 known by their colours: Red, Yellow, Silver and Green. The last is not given prominence, yet, as Dr Bunni rightly points out, it is a useful and flexible form. It could be used for projects that would not be classified as minor.
However, readers who were to start at the beginning would have to wait until Part V (page 485) before arriving at the 1999 forms. But to join the book at that point would be to miss much that is and has always been essential to Dr Bunni’s treatment. One of great virtues of the book is that it is almost a work on construction law and practice in the international sphere. Its lessons, although directed at the FIDIC family of contracts, are applicable to most international construction contracts, since Dr Bunni throughout provides copious references to arbitral awards and court decisions. (The notes to the text are, however, printed at the end of the book and not as footnotes which would have been more helpful.) Dr Bunni has correctly believed that one cannot understand a form of contract without first being aware of the background. So, having recalled that the FIDIC conditions owe their origins, historically, to UK forms of contract (traces of which still remain), the book starts with brief but highly informative introductions to legal systems that might typically apply: Romano-Germanic, common law and Islamic systems. The reader then has to bear in mind the effect of the law on the contract, so, for example, there is not much discussion about the impact of the legal requirement of “good faith”, whether in the negotiation or the performance of a contract. Important though it is in principle, there are material differences between jurisdictions so generalisations could well be misleading. Perhaps my only reservation is that the likely effect of typical applicable laws on certain conditions is not pursued or signalled. However, it would be difficult to do so authoritatively. (Clause 20.1 of the new FIDIC Red Book is thought by some to be difficult to enforce as a matter of law in certain jurisdictions as being potentially unfair to the contractor.)
Next, Dr Bunni looks at key factors which influence the drafting of many construction contracts: the concept of the role of the engineer, the calculation by remeasurement of what is to be paid for the works and, one of
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Book Reviews
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