ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the discharge of a contract by either performance or breach. The principle of ‘substantial performance’ has the potential to constitute a more general exception. A breach of contract may have a range of consequences. It may entitle the innocent party to seek an order for performance of the contract, to claim damages, or to terminate the contract, or some combination of these. In most cases of repudiatory breach, there is some act or omission that means that the obligations under the contract have only partially been fulfilled. In relation to all repudiatory breaches, the innocent party has the right to elect to treat the contract as discharged and claim for damages or to affirm the contract, notwithstanding the breach. Where the innocent party elects to treat the breach as repudiatory, the decision will normally only be effective if communicated to the other party.
