Contract Frustration in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • Davis Contractors Ltd v Fareham Urban District Council
    • House of Lords
    • 19 April 1956

    So perhaps it would be simpler to say at the outset that frustration occurs whenever the law recognises that without default of either party a contractual obligation has become incapable of being performed because the circumstances in which performance is called for would render it a thing radically different from that which was undertaken by the contract.

  • National Carriers Ltd v Panalpina (Northern) Ltd
    • House of Lords
    • 11 December 1980

    I. Frustration of a contract takes place when there supervenes an event (without default of either party and for which the contract makes no sufficient provision) which so significantly changes the nature (not merely the expense or onerousness) of the outstanding contractual rights and /or obligations from what the parties could reasonably have contemplated at the time of its execution that it would be unjust to hold them to the literal sense of its stipulations in the new circumstances; in such case the law declares both parties to be discharged from further performance.

  • Edwinton Commercial Corporation v Tsavliriss Russ (Worldwide Salvage Towage) Ltd; The Sea Angel
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 12 June 2007

    Among the factors which have to be considered are the terms of the contract itself, its matrix or context, the parties' knowledge, expectations, assumptions and contemplations, in particular as to risk, as at the time of contract, at any rate so far as these can be ascribed mutually and objectively, and then the nature of the supervening event, and the parties' reasonable and objectively ascertainable calculations as to the possibilities of future performance in the new circumstances.

  • Denny, Mott & Dickson Ltd v Jas. B. Fraser & Company
    • House of Lords
    • 19 May 1944

    The data for decision are, on the one hand, the terms and construction of the contract, read in the light of the then surrounding circumstances, and on the other hand the events which have occurred. On the contrary they would almost certainly on the one side or the other have sought to introduce reservations or qualifications or compensations. I mention these two aspects of the principle here because they are important for the decision of the present case.

  • Stocznia Gdanska SA v Latvian Shipping Company (No 2)
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 21 June 2002

    In my judgment, there is of course a middle ground between acceptance of repudiation and affirmation of the contract, and that is the period when the innocent party is making up his mind what to do. If he does nothing for too long, there may come a time when the law will treat him as having affirmed. If he maintains the contract in being for the moment, while reserving his right to treat it as repudiated if his contract partner persists in his repudiation, then he has not yet elected.

  • Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 18 October 1972

    In a proper case damages for mental distress can be recovered in contract, just as damages for shod: can be recovered in tort. One such case is a contract for a holiday, or any other contract to provide entertainment and enjoyment. If the contracting party breaks his contract, damages can be given for the disappointment, the distress, the upset and frustration caused by the breach.

  • Joseph Constantine Steamships Line v Imperial Smelting Corporation
    • House of Lords
    • 09 May 1941

    "Self-induced" frustration, as illustrated by the two decided cases already quoted, involves deliberate choice, and those cases amount to saying that a man cannot ask to be excused by reason of frustration it he has purposely so acted as to bring it about.

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Legislation
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Books & Journal Articles
  • Frustration of purpose and the French Contract Law reform
    • No. 25-3, June 2018
    • Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law
    Frustration of purpose remains one of the most ill-defined concepts in the English law of contracts. The same problem has also recently attracted the attention of the French legislature in its mode...
  • FRUSTRATION OF CONTRACT IN COMPARATIVE LAW AND IN THE NEW GREEK CIVIL CODE OF 1946 (Article 388)
    • No. 11-1, January 1948
    • The Modern Law Review
  • Why Exporters Need Export Credit
    • No. 4-1, February 2013
    • Global Policy
    ... ... , and the security or otherwise of receiving payment under the contract, together with more familiar risks such as the risk of the buyer becoming ... and covers losses incurred as a result of export contract frustration. It helps to protect the exporter ’ s contract cash fl ow and bottom ... ...
  • Frustrating Delay
    • No. 46-6, November 1983
    • The Modern Law Review
    ... ... delay in performance on a party's obligations under a contract. Such a delay can have serious consequences. The performance ... this point, when we come up against the notion of frustration, that our difficullies really begin. As long ago as 1958 the ... ...
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