law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, a recital (from la, recitare, "to read out") consists of an account or repetition of the details of some act, proceeding or fact. Particularly, in law, that part of a legal document—such as a

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

, which contains a statement of certain facts—contains the purpose for which the deed is made. In

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

law, a recital is a text that sets out reasons for the provisions of an act, while avoiding normative language and political argumentation. A recital may also appear at the end of a document, as some 170 have in the new

GDPR The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union regulation on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law, in parti ...

. Recitals have been demonstrated to play a limited role in the interpretation of Union legislation in the courts in the case of ambiguity in a particular provision within the legislation. By convention, most recitals start with the word '' Whereas''. A recital can, and should, be taken into account when interpreting the meaning of a contractual agreement.Standstill agreements: lessons in drafting from (1) Exsus Travel Limited (2) Coronation Limited v (1) Baker Tilly (2) Baker Tilly Audit LLP [2016] EWHC 2818 (Ch)
accessed 27 December 2016

References

Criminal procedure {{Law-term-stub es:Considerandos

See also

References