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Terms Used In 6 Guam Code Ann. § 2511

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
When the terms of an agreement have been reduced to writing by the parties, it is to be considered as containing all those terms, and therefore there can be between the parties and their representatives, or successors in interest, no evidence of the terms of the agreement other than the contents of the writing, except in the following cases:
1. Where a mistake or imperfection of the writing is put in issue by the pleadings; or
2. Where the validity of the agreement is the fact in dispute.

But this Section does not exclude other evidence of the circumstances under which the agreement was made or to which it relates, as defined in § 2515 [Circumstances to be Considered], or to explain an extrinsic
ambiguity, or to establish illegality or fraud. The term agreement includes deeds and wills, as well as contracts between parties.
SOURCE: CCP § 1856.

COURT DECISIONS: See McNamara v. Jones & Guerrero Co.., 417 F.2d 1188 (1969) for a determination that this Section prevented parol evidence to be introduced to modify a written contract.

COMMENT: This is the classic Parol Evidence Rule. This Rule is not contained in
Division 1, nor in the Federal Rules of Evidence.

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6 Guam Code Ann. EVIDENCE
DIV. 2 PRINCIPLES OF EVIDENCE
CH. 2 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EVIDENCE

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