In Rose & Frank Co v JR Crompton & Bros Ltd, the blue pencil rule was used to strike out an unacceptable clause in a memorandum of understanding agreement, which appeared to try to exclude the jurisdiction of the courts. The unenforceable part having been excised, the remainder of the agreement was valid and served to establish that the agreement was not intended by the parties to be binding at law. Other statutory provisions such as the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 [1] have established the blue pencil principle in statute law.

The blue pencil doctrine is a legal concept in common law countries in which a court finds that portions of a contract are void or unenforceable, but other portions of the contract are enforceable. The blue pencil rule allows the legally-valid enforceable provisions of the contract to stand despite the nullification of the legally-void unenforceable provisions. However, the revised version must represent the original meaning. The rule may not be invoked, for example, to delete the word "not" and thereby change a negative to a positive. A short report is a review of the storyline and set-up and includes an analysis of the structure of the first 15k. It is a ‘how am I doing so far’ assessment.Blue pencils, specifically non-photo blue, are used because the colour is easy to remove in digital editing software. The colour of the graphite in the pencil is invisible to photocopiers and most scanners, so can be used for the first line work without having to erase the pencils.

The principle was established by the House of Lords in the case of Nordenfelt v Maxim, Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co (1894).

Sketching in non-photo blue makes it easy to create clean, complex linework without worrying about erasing. Add one of these pens or pencils to your toolkit, and comment below or tag @jetpens on social media to share your work with us! Now you need to change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply. This isn’t essential but it does make it easier to draw underneath.