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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Contracts legislation - Illegal contracts - Court may grant relief

76: Court may grant relief

You could also call this:

“The court can help make things fair when there's a problem with a contract”

If you’re in a situation where a contract might not be valid, the court can help you. The court can decide what’s fair and give you different kinds of help. This help can include giving things back, paying money, changing the contract, or making the contract valid for some or all purposes.

You can ask for this help during a court case or by making a special request to the court. The court can do this even if other parts of the law say the contract isn’t valid.

The court can also tell people to give property to each other. This could mean giving someone the right to own something, telling someone to transfer ownership, or telling someone to hand over something they have.

When the court talks about property in this situation, they mean things that were part of the contract or were given in exchange for the contract. This could be real things like land or buildings, or other things like money or objects.

Remember, these rules apply unless another law specifically says something different.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844172.

Topics:
Business > Fair trading Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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75: Who may be granted relief, or

"The court can help you if you're in a tricky situation with an illegal contract"

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Part 2 Contracts legislation
Illegal contracts: Court may grant relief

76Court may grant relief

  1. The court may grant to a person referred to in section 75 any relief that the court thinks just, including (without limitation)—

  2. restitution; or
    1. compensation; or
      1. variation of the contract; or
        1. validation of the contract in whole or in part or for any particular purpose.

          1. The relief may be granted in the course of any proceeding or on application made for the purpose.

          2. Subsection (1) and section 75 apply—

          3. despite sections 73 and 74; but
            1. subject to the express provisions of any other enactment.

              1. The court may, by an order made under this section,—

              2. vest the whole or any part of any relevant property in a party; or
                1. direct a party to transfer or assign the whole or any part of any relevant property to any other party; or
                  1. direct a party to deliver the whole or any part of the possession of any relevant property to any other party.

                    1. In subsection (4),—

                      party means a party to the proceeding

                        relevant property means real or personal property that was the subject of the contract or was the whole or part of the consideration for the contract.

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