WI · jury_instructions
Wis JI-Civil 3051
Contracts: Ambiguous Language
The parties dispute the meaning of the following language in their contract: (insert
language found by the court to be ambiguous). 1
It is your duty to interpret the contract to give effect to what the parties intended when
they made their agreement.2 In determining the meaning of the language, you should consider
[include such of the following as are supported by the evidence]:
-- the words in dispute, 3
-- the purpose of the contract, 4
-- the circumstances surrounding the making of the contract, 5
-- the subsequent conduct of the parties, 6
-- other language in the contract, 7
-- [list any other specific factors relating to the case] 8
If you are unable to decide the intention of the parties after considering these factors,
then you should interpret the disputed language against the party who prepared the contract.9
History
Wis JI-Civil 3051 (2012). ©2012, Regents, Univ. of Wis. Prepared by the Wisconsin Civil Jury Instructions Committee of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference with the University of Wisconsin Law School; posted by the Wisconsin State Law Library with the University's permission.
Provenance
- Source
- wilawlibrary.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
7c72b1b27fdfb115938c78ae2a645a50e855d842505081b372d17fcc1e44c6f9
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.