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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Contracts legislation - Minors’ contracts - Contractual capacity of minors

87: Court may inquire into fairness and reasonableness of contract

You could also call this:

“Court can check if contracts with minors are fair”

When someone who is not yet an adult signs a contract, the court can look into whether the contract is fair and reasonable. This can happen during a court case or if someone asks the court to do it. The court will consider if the contract was fair when it was first signed.

The court can choose to use its powers to check if a contract is fair, but it doesn’t have to. There are other parts of the law that give the court these powers, but they don’t force the court to use them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844197.

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"Contracts don't work against kids, but still count for grown-ups"

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"Courts can make decisions about fair contracts with young people"

Part 2 Contracts legislation
Minors’ contracts: Contractual capacity of minors

87Court may inquire into fairness and reasonableness of contract

  1. The court may, in the course of any proceeding or on application made for the purpose, inquire into the fairness and reasonableness of a contract to which section 86 applies at the time the contract was entered into.

  2. Sections 88 and 89 do not impose a duty on the court to exercise a power under those sections.

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