Breach

• Discharge by breach is when a party fails to perform their obligations under a contract and they may be sued (Poussard).
• Breach can be actual breach - failure to perform the contract...
• ... or Anticipatory breach - when a party indicated they will not be able to perform the contract (Hochster).
• Repudiatory breach is when a party commits a breach serious enough for the innocent party to treat the contract as terminated.
• Breach may be taken as anticipatory if by renunciation or self-induced impossibility
• Unlikelihood or uncertainty of future performance is not sufficient (Geden Operations Ltd).
• The effect of breach depends on the type of term broken -

  • conditions --> repudiation (Poussard)
  • warranties --> damages (Bettini)
  • innominate terms --> could be repudiation or damages
• The victim may choose to continue a contract after anticipatory breach to see if the D actually breaches the contract.