Establishing Economic Justice in Times of Inflation: Judicial Intervention in the Enforcement of Contracts

This study examines how judicial intervention in contract enforcement can promote economic justice during periods of inflation. With reference to the pertinent case law of the Polish courts, this article presents an empirical perspective on the topic of judicial intervention in contract enforcement as a way to advance economic justice in inflationary times. Judicial responses to hardship due to inflation are analysed through core doctrines such as pacta sunt servanda, and frustration of contracts focusing on the Hon’ble Courts viers to balance contractual certainty and substantive justice by responding to market volatility. Based on the principles of welfare economics and social justice theory, the paper argues that economic justice is a constitutional imperative that is thoroughly judicial in nature. Inflation, it turns out, upsets the balance imposed by different contracts, and enforcing them rigidly is often economically unreasonable. It is here that the Hon’ble Courts of common law jurisdictions assumes a stabilizing position interpreting statutory clauses like Section 20, 56 and 70 of the Contract Act 1872 to allow for fairness within commercial certainty. This article arrives at the conclusion that there is a law–economy nexus which, so long as it is rooted in constitutional principles and is pragmatic in its application, can preserve market stability but protect distributive justice. It argues for judicial purposiveness as a means to reconcile contract law, with the moral and economic demands of justice in inflationary crises.