Mersey Steel and Iron Co v Naylor, Benzon and Co: HL 1884

The House explained the doctrine of repudiation of a contract: ‘where there is a contract which is to be performed in future, if one of the parties has said to the other in effect, ‘If you go on and perform your side of the contract I will not perform mine’ . . that in effect amounts to saying, ‘I will not perform the contract.’ In that case the other party may say, ‘You have given me distinct notice that you will not perform the contract. I will not wait until you have broken it, but I will treat you as having put an end to the contract, and if necessary I will sue you for damages, but at all events I will not go on with the contract’.’

Judges:

Lord Blackburn

Citations:

(1884) LR 9 App Cas 434

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedDymocks Franchise Systems (NSW) Pty Limited v Todd and Todd, Bilgola Enterprises Ltd and Lambton Quay Books Ltd PC 7-Oct-2002
PC (New Zealand) The claimants asserted that the respondents had wrongly terminated their franchise licence. The agreement was subject to the New South Wales law requiring good faith, but the court had not had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.182396