What is the parol evidence rule?

The Parol Evidence Rule is a legal doctrine found in California contract law. The rule states that if two parties enter into an agreement, which is reduced in written form, prior verbal agreements or conversations between the parties are invalid. The written agreement is considered to be the complete and final agreement between the parties and any prior oral evidence or conversations are considered to be invalid. This means that the written agreement is the only evidence that is used to determine the obligations and rights between the two parties. In California, the Parol Evidence Rule is often relied upon by the courts to settle disputes between two parties in a contract. In such cases, the court will only consider evidence within the written contract. If one party presents evidence outside of the written agreement, such as conversations or statements made during negotiations before the contract was signed, then the court will not consider it valid evidence. The rationale behind the Parol Evidence Rule is that it prevents one party from making changes to the terms of the written agreement or from cancelling or revoking parts of the agreement. This prevents one party from using oral evidence to change the terms of the written agreement or from invalidating parts of the agreement.

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What is the parol evidence rule?

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