Discharge of contract

• What are the three ways a contract will end?

  discharge by performance

  Discharge by breach

  Discharge by frustration
• What is discharge by performance?

  Where both parties have done what they have agreed in the contract
• What is discharge by breach?


  This is where the contract has not been performed as agreed
• What is discharge by frustration?

  This is where unforeseen events outside the control of the parties make performance impossible
• What is the general rule of discharge by performance?

  Discharge by performance can only be done if the performance was complete and exact
• What case links to discharge by performance?

  Cutter v Powell
• What are the ways around the harsh rule?

  Divisible contracts

  Substantial performance

  Prevention of full performance

  Acceptance of part performance
• What are divisible contracts?

  Where a contract can be split up into separate parts, if there is non-completion of one part of the contract then this will bit be seen as a breach of the whole contract
• What case links to divisible contracts?

  Ritchie v Atkinson
• What is substantial performance?

  The payment of the amount appropriate to what has been done can be paid for the performance that was given
• What case links to substantial performance?

  Dakin and co v Lee
• What is the problem with the doctrine of substantial performance?

  There are no specific percentages as to what amounts to substantial performance
• What is prevention of full performance?


  If one party prevents the other from carrying out the contract then the innocent party can claim to be paid on a ‘as much as it is worth’ basis
• What case links to prevention of full performance?

  Planche v Colburn
• What is acceptance of part-performance?

  If one party has agreed that the other party need not complete the entire contract then the contract must be paid on as much as it’s worth basis

  must be done with consent
• What case links to acceptance of part-payment?

  Sumpter v Hedges
• What is a time term?

  The parties have expressly stated in the contract that time is of the essence of the contract

  in the circumstances the time for completion of the contract is critical

  One party has failed to perform on time and the other has insisted on a new date for completion of the contract
• What case links to time terms?

  Charles Rickards Ltd v Oppenheim
• What does section 52 say about the time for performance?


  If the contract does not expressly fix a time for the service to be performed and does not say how it is to be fixed then the contract is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service within a reasonable time
• What is an actual breach?


  Where the breach occurs at the time or during the course of performance
• What is anticipatory breach?


  This is when a party to a contract gives notice in advance to the other party that they will not be performing or completing the contract
• What circumstances give rise to a breach of Contract?

  Renunciation of a party of their liabilities under the contract

  Impossibility created by their own act

  Total or partial failure of performance
• What is a repudiatory breach of contract?

  Where a party commits a breach of contract that is sufficiently serious that is entitled the innocent party to treat the contract as terminated
• What ways can repudiatory breaches occur?


  A breach of a condition

  A refusal to perform the contract

  A sufficiently serious breach of an innominate term
• What case links to anticipatory breach?

  Hochester v de la tour
• What are the remedies of discharge by breach?

  Damages and repudiation
• What is discharge by frustration?

  If a party to a contract was prevented from keeping their promise because of an unforeseeable intervening event then they are not liable for a breach of contract
• What case links to discharge by frustration?

  Taylor v Caldwell
• When will the law on frustration apply?

  It is now impossible for performance to be completed

  The contract has now become illegal to perform

  The contract has become fundamentally different
• What case links to impossibility of performance?

  Robinson v Davidson
• What is meant by The contract becoming illegal to perform?

  If there is a change in the law, that now makes performance illegal this could mean that the contract has been frustrated
• What is meant by the contract has become fundamentally different?

  If the main purpose of the contract is based on a particular event, and that event will now not take place, the contract may be frustrated
• What case links to the contract becoming fundamentally different?

  Krell v Henry
• When will the rules of frustration not apply?

  Self-induced frustration

  The contract becoming less profitable

  The event being a foreseeable risk of the event was mentioned in the contract
• What case links to self-induced frustration?

  Maritime National Fish Ltd
• What case links to The contract becoming less profitable?

  Davis Contractors Ltd
• What are remedies for discharge by frustration?

  Damages