This is part of a series of articles on transactional contracts issues by Prof. Michael L. Bloom and students in the Transactional Lab at the University of Michigan Law School.
One of many reasons to document an agreement in writing is to record the exact promises and representations parties make to each other. This helps to provide certainty regarding the specific terms of the parties’ bargain. To further this purpose, parties may wish to include certain provisions in their written agreement that help to limit their deal to that written agreement.
Integrating Contract Terms into a Writing
An integration (sometimes called “merger” or “complete-agreement”) clause provides that the written document contains the final and complete expression of the parties’ contractual bargain.
If there is a future dispute, a well-drafted integration clause may help a judge to render the written agreement completely integrated and to prevent the introduction of contract terms that are not found within the completely integrated document—i.e., within the document’s “four corners.”
