New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CONTRACTS REVIEW ACT 1980 - SECT 17

17 Effect of this Act not limited by agreements etc

(1) A person is not competent to waive his or her rights under this Act, and any provision of a contract is void to the extent that--

(a) it purports to exclude, restrict or modify the application of this Act to the contract, or

(b) it would, but for this subsection, have the effect of excluding, restricting or modifying the application of this Act to the contract.

(2) A person is not prevented from seeking relief under this Act by--

(a) any acknowledgment, statement or representation, or

(b) any affirmation of the contract or any action taken with a view to performing any obligation arising under the contract.

(3) This Act applies to and in relation to a contract only if--

(a) the law of the State is the proper law of the contract,

(b) the proper law of the contract would, but for a term that it should be the law of some other place or a term to the like effect, be the law of the State, or

(c) the proper law of the contract would, but for a term that purports to substitute, or has the effect of substituting, provisions of the law of some other place for all or any of the provisions of this Act, be the law of the State.

(4) This Act does not apply to a contract under which a person agrees to withdraw, or not to prosecute, a claim for relief under this Act if--

(a) the contract is a genuine compromise of the claim, and

(b) the claim was asserted before the making of the contract.

(5) Without affecting the generality of subsection (1), the Court may exercise its powers under this Act in relation to a contract notwithstanding that the contract itself provides--

(a) that disputes or claims arising out of, or in relation to, the contract are to be referred to arbitration, or

(b) that legal proceedings arising out of, or in relation to, the contract are justiciable only by the courts of some other place.