1.   Judges will normally interpret contracts strictly and will use certain principles when it comes to resolving inconsistencies and ambiguities.

2.   Questions of fairness of the procedure will be decided by interpreting the contract rather than by reference to an external standard.

3.   Drafting for clarity There are well-developed rules of construction used by the courts when interpreting a contract, and the drafter should bear them in mind.

4.   More recently there has been some support for an approach which interprets the contract as a whole but it is by no means unanimous.

5.   A liberal judge might have interpreted the contract more expansively and ruled against the engineering company.

6.   Governments do not ordinarily agree to curtail their sovereign or legislative powers, and contracts must be interpreted in a common-sense way against that background understanding.

7.   Here, the Seventh Circuit interpreted the contract to incorporate New York law, including the Garrity rule that arbitrators may not award punitive damages.

8.   META, meanwhile, holds to its position of how the contract should be interpreted.

9.   Federal courts would deal with questions about how to interpret a contract, such as whether a particular benefit is covered under the health plan.