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Contract: Discharge of Contract

Anticipatory breach

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 2 and 3

Overview

Hochster v De La Tour and the right to sue at once, the choice between accepting the repudiation and affirming, the risk Avery v Bowden illustrates, and the limits on White and Carter.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is anticipatory breach?

Numbers

Which case established that a claim can be brought immediately?

Key term

How can anticipatory breach be shown by conduct?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is anticipatory breach?

    Model answer

    Anticipatory breach occurs where a party makes clear before performance is due that it will not perform. The innocent party need not wait for the date of performance.

  2. 2

    Which case established that a claim can be brought immediately?

    Model answer

    Hochster v De La Tour (1853) allowed a courier to sue as soon as the employer cancelled the engagement. The claim was brought before the employment was due to begin.

  3. 3

    How can anticipatory breach be shown by conduct?

    Model answer

    Selling the subject matter to someone else shows an inability to perform. Conduct making performance impossible amounts to anticipatory breach.

  4. 4

    What options does the innocent party have after an anticipatory breach?

    Model answer

    The innocent party may accept the repudiation, terminate and sue immediately. The alternative is to affirm the contract and wait for the date of performance.

  5. 5

    What is the risk of affirming after an anticipatory breach?

    Model answer

    Avery v Bowden (1855) shows that an intervening event may discharge the contract by frustration. The innocent party then loses the right to claim damages.

  6. 6

    What happened in Avery v Bowden (1855)?

    Model answer

    Avery v Bowden (1855) concerned a charterer who failed to load cargo at Odessa. The shipowner waited, and the outbreak of the Crimean War then frustrated the contract.

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