Discharge from Contract - Explained
When is an Individual's Obligation in a Contract Relieved?
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at September 24th, 2021
- Marketing, Advertising, Sales & PR
- Accounting, Taxation, and Reporting
- Professionalism & Career Development
-
Law, Transactions, & Risk Management
Government, Legal System, Administrative Law, & Constitutional Law Legal Disputes - Civil & Criminal Law Agency Law HR, Employment, Labor, & Discrimination Business Entities, Corporate Governance & Ownership Business Transactions, Antitrust, & Securities Law Real Estate, Personal, & Intellectual Property Commercial Law: Contract, Payments, Security Interests, & Bankruptcy Consumer Protection Insurance & Risk Management Immigration Law Environmental Protection Law Inheritance, Estates, and Trusts
- Business Management & Operations
- Economics, Finance, & Analytics
- Courses
Table of Contents
What situations relieve individuals from performing her duties under a contract?Discussion QuestionAcademic ResearchWhat is Discharge of a Contract?
An individual is relieved from her duty to perform a contract in the following scenarios:
Void Contract - If a contract becomes void, both parties are relieved from their duty of performance.
Breach by Other Party - If the other party materially breaches the contract, the non-breaching party is relieved from the obligation to further perform the agreement.
Failure of a Condition - A contract may contain any number of conditions that may materialize (or fail to materialize), which relieve the parties obligation to perform under the contract.
Impossibility, Impracticability, of Frustration of Purpose - Parties to a contract may be relieved from their obligation to perform if performance becomes impossible, commercially impracticable, or the underlying purpose of the contract is frustrated.
Waiver or Release - A party may, per her own volition, sign a waiver or release relieving the other partys obligation to perform.
Any of the above situations may release one or both parties from their duties of performance.
Next Article: Contract Conditions - Precedent & Subsequent Back to: CONTRACT LAW
Related Topics
- When is a party's Duty of performance?
- What is an Executed contract vs an Executory contract?
- What is Performance, Substantial Performance, and Breach of a contract?
- What is performance of a Divisible Contract?
- What are conditions to Contract (Precedent & Subsequent)?
- What is tender performance of a contract?
- What are Impossibility and Impracticability
- What is a Frustration of Purpose?
- Waiver or Release from Contract
- Novation
- What is a Breach of Contract?
- Acceleration Clause (Contracts) Definition
- What methods exist for resolving a breach?
- What remedies exist for a breach of contract?
- What is Efficient Breach?
Discussion Question
Do you agree that the above situations should relieve an individual from her obligations under a contract? Why or why not?