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Contract: Discharge

Frustration and when a contract is frustrated

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Units 3 and 4

Overview

Frustration of contract and self induced frustration.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Why was the contract in Davis Contractors v Fareham Urban District Council (1956) not frustrated?

Key term

Define frustration of contract.

Numbers

How may personal incapacity frustrate a contract?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define frustration of contract.

    Model answer

    Frustration occurs where, after the contract is made, an event beyond the fault of either party makes performance impossible, illegal, or so radically different from what was undertaken that the contract is automatically discharged.

  2. 2

    What was the rule in Paradine v Jane (1647)?

    Model answer

    Contractual obligations were treated as absolute, so a tenant driven from his land by an invading army remained liable for the rent because he could have provided for the risk in the contract.

  3. 3

    What did Taylor v Caldwell (1863) decide?

    Model answer

    A music hall hired for a series of concerts burned down before the first of them, and the court held that a term was implied that the parties would be excused if performance became impossible through the destruction of the subject matter.

  4. 4

    State the test for frustration laid down in Davis Contractors v Fareham Urban District Council (1956).

    Model answer

    Frustration occurs where performance without default of either party becomes a thing radically different from that which was undertaken by the contract, and it is not enough that performance has become more onerous or expensive.

  5. 5

    Why was the contract in Davis Contractors v Fareham Urban District Council (1956) not frustrated?

    Model answer

    Shortages of labour and materials meant the houses took much longer and cost far more than expected, but the builders were still doing the very thing they had contracted to do, so the obligation had not become radically different.

  6. 6

    How may personal incapacity frustrate a contract?

    Model answer

    Where the contract depends on the personal performance of an individual, illness or injury making that performance impossible discharges it, as in Condor v The Barron Knights (1966) where a drummer was medically unfit to play seven nights a week.

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