Contract Law Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Contract Law - Article Example However, in February 2001 Junior Aids forget to send a representative to one of the major retailers during one 2 week period and miss a small order from that company. Infasuck, who have been looking for an opportunity to replace Junior Aids, immediately repudiate the agreement and claim damages: In order to be able to assess Junior Aids Legal Position it is necessary to examine the ways in which a contract can be repudiated. The starting point in this type of situation is to examine the terms of the contract to determine whether there has been a breach. This will enable a conclusion to be drawn as to the rights of the parties in terms of repudiation of the contract. In law either party might be entitled to repudiate the contract. In this particular situation Infasuck Ltd might be entitled to repudiate the contract because the other party has not adhered to a clause in the contract. In order to decide whether repudiation is likely to be authorised by the court it is necessary to examine the content of the contract to determine whether the clause amounts to a condition. In this particular situation it is obvious that Clause 6 amounts to a condition as the agreement is that Junior Aids will visit the groups at least once a week. ... As a result of this lateness the plaintiff failed to attend rehearsals which were viewed as a lesser part of the contract. The court held that there had been a breach of the warranty to attend the rehearsals but that the defendant was only entitled to compensation for this loss and was not entitled to repudiate the contract. In some cases the court will not allow the parties to repudiate if a substantial part of the contract has been performed before the breach occurred. This was the case in Hong Kong Fir Shipping2 where the court found that as a substantial part of the contract had been completed the plaintiff was only entitled to claim compensation for loss of profit and earnings whilst the vessel could not be used. In these cases the court held that there had been a breach of warranty but not a breach of a condition in the contract. By contrast in the case of Poussard v Spiers3 the court reached the conclusion that there had been a breach of a condition inserted within the contract. The court stated in this case that the plaintiff was entitled to repudiate the contract on the grounds of the breach as the breach rendered the contract void. In general terms the person seeking to repudiate a contract must do so as soon as the breach becomes apparent. In the situation above Infasuck Ltd knew of the breach some time before hand, but had allowed the contract to continue and had amended the terms of the contract. The court might hold in such a case that by doing so Infasuck Ltd had affirmed the contract, in which case the court may decide that they are not entitled to repudiate the contract. In Hayes (t/a Orchard Construction) v Gallant[2008]4 the court had to determine whether there had been an