First Principles of Business Law
Performance and breach of contract

5. Assessing the seriousness of a breach of contract

5.4. Innominate (unnamed) terms in a contract

 

 

 

Read the facts and the question and then choose the best answer.

A, who is a builder, agrees to supply new roof tiles for B's house. The contract describes the required tiles in detail, including shape, size, thickness, colour, and finish. When the tiles are delivered, B notices that they do not have the high-glaze finish specified in the contract; they only have a low-glaze finish. B wants to reject the tiles. A admits he has breached an express term of the contract but says the term is not described as either a condition or warranty in the contract and cannot easily be classified as either.

Do the courts necessarily classify terms as either 'conditions' or 'warranties' to decide how important a breach of contract is?

(a) Yes. If a term cannot be identified as being a condition, then it will be treated as a warranty.  Terms cannot be left unclassified.

(b) No. Terms don't have to be classified as either a condition or a warranty. Sometimes the courts simply assess the seriousness of the breach, rather than considering the importance of the term that was breached.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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