Section 177 - Extrinsic evidence affecting the contents of a writing

(1) Except as otherwise provided by the rules of equity, terms set forth in a writing intended by the party or parties to the writing as a final expression of intention or agreement with respect to those terms may not be contradicted by evidence of a prior declaration of intention, of a prior agreement or of a contemporaneous oral agreement or declaration of intention, but may be explained or supplemented,

(a) by evidence of consistent additional terms unless the Court finds the writing to have been intended also as a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the intention or agreement, but a will and a registered writing conveying immovable property shall be deemed to be a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the intention or agreement; and

(b) by a course of dealing or usage of trade or by course of performance.

(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude the admission of evidence relevant to the interpretation of terms in a writing.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1),

(a) “a course of dealing” means a sequence of previous conduct between parties to a particular transaction which can fairly be regarded as establishing a common basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct;

(b) “a usage of trade” means a practice or method of dealing in a place, vocation or trade as to justify an expectation that it will be observed with respect to the transaction in question;

(c) “course of performance” means, in respect only of a contract which involves repeated occasions for performance by either party with knowledge of the nature of the performance and opportunity for objection to it by the other, a manner of performance accepted or acquiesced in without objection.