notwithstanding

The term notwithstanding is used as a preposition in commercial contracts to indicate that the substantive provision which follows is to apply in spite of, without regard to, limited by, or prevented from operation by some other provision.

For instance, consider a contract with the following terms:

1. The Supplier shall provide monthly reports on the service levels achieved by the Supplier to the Customer.
2. Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, the Supplier shall promptly deliver reports specifying the number of defects in the software to the Customer.

Clause 2 of the contract requires the Supplier to report defects in the software promptly and not on a monthly basis as required by clause 1. In this way, the general intention of the first clause is preserved, with special or particular instances or requirements contemplated by the parties at the time of the contract. This method of drafting allow a general, broad contractual obligation to retain contractual force while minimising risk that a Court would find that the generality of the broader obligation has been narrowed by specifying a particular instance of the obligation. See ejusdem generis.

The use of the word in contracts does not detract from its plain and ordinary English meaning of the contractual document which may be adopted by a Court having regard for all of the provisions of the contract.