§ 19-24 Contract - Subject to Existing Law

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 19-24 Contract - Subject to Existing Law

In South Carolina, every contract-written or otherwise-is subject to all of the state laws that can be applied to the matter. In other words, the law becomes a part of every contract, whether the contract states so or not.

Contracting parties are presumed to contract in reference to the existing law. Indeed, they are presumed to have in mind all the existing laws relating to the contract or to the subject matter thereof. All existing applicable or relevant and valid statutes, ordinances, regulations, and settled law at the time a contract is made become a part of it and must be read into it just as if an express provision to that effect were inserted therein. The laws which exist at the time and place of making a contract and at the place where it is to be performed, affecting its validity, construction, operation, effect, obligations, performance, enforcement and discharge, enter into and form a part of it as if they were expressly referred to or incorporated in its terms. However, the parties may indicate an intention to be bound by future, as opposed to existing, laws.

See Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina v. State, 372 S.C. 519, 642 S.E.2d 751 (2007) (" '[S]tatutes and ordinances enacted subsequent to the execution of a contract, which add burdens or impair the obligations of the contract, may not be deemed to be a part of

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