This Chapter discusses damages and other remedies for breach of contract. It covers the compensatory nature of damages, basis of assessment of damages, causation, remoteness, mitigation, assessment of damages in contracts for the sale of goods, claimants’ contributory negligence, the tax element in damages, interest, and agreed damages clauses (contrasting penalty clauses).
Chapter
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary and other features. The common law places great emphasis on damages as the primary remedy for breach of contract, reinforced by the fact that although a victim of a breach may seek specific performance or an injunction, such orders are equitable in nature and therefore discretionary. In claiming damages, the victim of a breach will need to establish that: the claimed method for assessing damages is appropriate (measure); the damages are not too remote (remoteness); if relevant, compensation for inconvenience and/or disappointment caused by the breach is recoverable (non-pecuniary losses); the losses could not have been reasonably mitigated (mitigation); and the recoverable losses have been properly quantified (quantification). Separately, the validity of any agreed damages clause will need to be determined.
Chapter
13. Controlling contract terms
Exclusion clauses, penalties, and consumer protection
This chapter examines how the law regulates contract terms, with particular emphasis on rules that are intended to protect weaker parties. It begins with a discussion of the limits of freedom of contract and proceeds by assessing the role played by formal requirements, such as the requirement that contracts be in writing. It then considers how the law regulates contract terms which seek to alter the liability that one party will have in the event of breach. More specifically, it looks at exclusion clauses in the common law and the statutory regulation of such clauses, along with liquidated damages, contractual remedies, and the rule against penalties. It also explores the extent to which consumer protection law restricts the terms that can be included in consumer contracts, especially when dealing with the problem of unfair terms.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
Chapter
13. Controlling contract terms
Exclusion clauses, penalties, and consumer protection
This chapter examines how the law regulates contract terms, with particular emphasis on rules that are intended to protect weaker parties. It begins with a discussion of the limits of freedom of contract and proceeds by assessing the role played by formal requirements, such as the requirement that contracts be in writing. It then considers how the law regulates contract terms which seek to alter the liability that one party will have in the event of breach. More specifically, it looks at exclusion clauses in the common law and the statutory regulation of such clauses, along with liquidated damages, contractual remedies, and the rule against penalties. It also explores the extent to which consumer protection law restricts the terms that can be included in consumer contracts, especially when dealing with the problem of unfair terms.
Chapter
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and other features. The common law places great emphasis on damages as the primary remedy for breach of contract, reinforced by the fact that although a victim of a breach may seek specific performance or an injunction, such orders are equitable in nature and therefore discretionary. In claiming damages, the victim of a breach will need to establish that: the claimed method for assessing damages is appropriate (measure); the damages are not too remote (remoteness); if relevant, compensation for inconvenience and/or disappointment caused by the breach is recoverable (non-pecuniary losses); the losses could not have been reasonably mitigated (mitigation); and the recoverable losses have been properly quantified (quantification). Separately, the validity of any agreed damages clause will need to be determined.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Contract Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Nicola Jackson.
Chapter
The discharge of a contract means that the obligations of the contract come to an end. When discharge occurs, all duties which arose under the contract are terminated. This chapter discusses the various methods of discharging a contract and the consequences of each. It considers how a contract can be discharged through agreement between the parties; the elements necessary for a contract to be discharged by performance, including the rules relating to partial performance of a contract; and the meaning and effect of the frustration of a contract. The chapter discusses the meaning of breach of contract, both actual breach and anticipatory breach, and its consequences. The remedies for a breach of contract are explored, including the rules relating to remoteness and measure of damages and the difference between liquidated damages and penalties. Equitable remedies of specific performance and injunctions are explained.
Chapter
This chapter deals with the primary remedy for breach of contract: damages. It looks at the basic test, which allows for the recovery of expectation loss, and also considers recovery of reliance loss and a restitutionary sum. The assessment for, and availability of, negotiating damages as recently affirmed by the Supreme Court in One Step (Support) LTD v Morris-Garner and Another (2019) is explored. The further limitations on recovery such as remoteness and the ‘duty’ to mitigate are considered, as is the distinction between liquidated damages and penalty clauses. The problem of recovering for non-financial losses—mental distress and the consumer surplus—is also addressed. Finally, the chapter looks at how the rules on penalties have been relaxed with the landmark judgments in Cavendish and ParkingEye (2015).
Chapter
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on damages, the aim of which is generally to protect the claimant’s contractual expectation and put the claimant into the position they would have been in had the contract been properly performed. The lost expectation may be measured in terms of the difference between what the claimant expected to get and what was actually received. There are limitations on the claimant’s ability to be fully compensated for losses as a result of breach, i.e. remoteness, mitigation, contributory negligence, and the ability to recover for non-pecuniary losses in contract. This chapter also examines agreed damages clauses and the operation of the penalty rule.
Chapter
This chapter deals with the primary remedy for breach of contract: damages. It looks at the basic test, which allows for the recovery of expectation loss, and also considers recovery of reliance loss and a restitutionary sum. The further limitations on recovery such as remoteness and the ‘duty’ to mitigate are considered, as is the distinction between liquidated damages and penalty clauses. The problem of recovering for non-financial losses—mental distress and the consumer surplus—is also addressed. Finally, the chapter looks at how the rules on penalties have been relaxed with the landmark judgments in Cavendish and ParkingEye (2015).
Chapter
This chapter examines the entitlement of a claimant to recover damages in respect of a breach of contract committed by the defendant, and is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the different measures of damages that can be awarded, while Section 3 analyses the performance interest. Section 4 examines the circumstances in which a claimant can seek damages based on his ‘reliance’ losses rather than his performance interest, while Section 5 discusses the circumstances in which damages may be awarded to protect the claimant’s ‘restitution’ interest. Section 6 examines the entitlement of a claimant to recover damages in respect of non-pecuniary losses, particularly ‘mental distress’. Section 7 considers the general rule that damages are assessed as at the date of breach and the exceptions to that rule, while Section 8 considers the various doctrines which the courts use in order to keep liability within acceptable bounds. These include remoteness, mitigation, and contributory negligence. Section 9 examines the circumstances in which a claimant can recover what is known as ‘negotiating damages’ or the defendant can be ordered to account to a claimant for the profits that he has made from his breach of contract. Section 10 looks at the possibility that exemplary damages might play a role in breach of contract cases. The chapter concludes, in Sections 11 and 12, with a discussion of agreed damages clauses (and related clauses) and their legal regulation.
Chapter
This chapter examines the entitlement of a claimant to recover damages in respect of a breach of contract committed by the defendant and is organized as follows. Section 23.2 discusses the different measures of damages that can be awarded, while 23.3 analyses the performance interest. Section 23.4 examines the circumstances in which a claimant can seek damages based on his ‘reliance’ losses rather than his performance interest, and 23.5 discusses the circumstances in which damages may be awarded to protect the claimant’s ‘restitution’ interest. Section 23.6 examines the entitlement of a claimant to recover damages in respect of non-pecuniary losses, particularly ‘mental distress’. Section 23.7 considers the general rule that damages are assessed as at the date of breach and the exceptions to that rule, while 23.8 considers the various doctrines which the courts use in order to keep liability within acceptable bounds. These include remoteness, mitigation, and contributory negligence. Section 23.9 examines the circumstances in which a claimant can recover what is known as ‘negotiating damages’ or the defendant can be ordered to account to a claimant for the profits that he has made from his breach of contract. Section 23.10 looks at the possibility that exemplary damages might play a role in breach of contract cases. The chapter concludes, in the final sections, with a discussion of agreed damages clauses (and related clauses) and their legal regulation.
