SCOPE OF PART I (Hansard, 6 May 1977)

§ Mr. Ward
I beg to move Amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 3 after "4" insert and 7".

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we may take Amendments Nos. 32, 41 and 42.

§ Mr. Ward
Schedule 1(2) provides among other things that charterparties between persons acting in the course of a business are exempt from Clauses 2—except subsection (1)—to 4. But Clause 7 should also be prevented from applying to charterparties, because that deals with the hire of ships, which is a similar situation to that when both parties act in the course of a business. That is now achieved by the amendment.
Clause 20 deals with an area in which the Lord Advocate is much more specialist than I but makes clear that in Scots law Clause 20 does not affect commercial charterparties of ships or hover-craft, that is, those entered into between parties both of whom act in the course of a business in exactly the same way. In addition, commercial charterparties are already excluded from the scope of the controls over liability for breach of duty or negligence and the controls relating to contractual obligations and indemnities.
One of my Amendments deletes from Clause 20 the exclusion of contracts subject to a statute or rule of law affecting the right of a person to exclude or restrict his liability. This exclusion is no longer necessary because the Committee included Clause 27 in Part III of the Bill.
Amendment No. 41 is merely a deletion of some unnecessary words, because Clause 2 now applies, by virtue of Clause 1(3), only against a person dealing in the course of a business. Amendment No. 42 is consequential on No. 2.

§ Mr. Ward
I beg to move Amendment No. 3, in page 2, line 8, leave out 'this Part of this Act applies and insertsections2to7apply'. In some ways I should apologise to the House since I moved in Committee the inclusion of words which I am now asking should be taken out. This is merely a drafting amendment to pinpoint more precisely the relevant provisions to which Clause 1(3) applies. It makes it clear beyond doubt that the amendments to the Misrepresentation Acts are not confined to cases where liability for misrepresentation arises in the course of a business.