Buckland v Bournemouth University Higher Education Corp.

In the case of Buckland v Bournemouth University Higher Education Corp ([2010] EWCACiv 121) the Court of Appeal handed down judgments which were of significance for the doctrines of general English contract law, the law governing the common law implied term of mutual trust and confidence - which is a key component of the contract of employment - and the law of statutory constructive dismissal which forms part of statutory employment protection legislation in the UK. One of the two objectives of this piece is to draw the reader’s attention to three aspects of the decision in Buckland which are particularly deserving of comment. The second is to consider the implications of two of those three factors for our understanding of the likely evolution of the content of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and the law of statutory constructive dismissal.