CONTRACT LECTURE 12 TRANSCRIPT
C STRICKLAND
FRUSTRATION
TOTAL TIME = 55 mins 34 secs
Track/slide 8 2.28
First then, we shall look at the position where performance of the contract is Impossible.
A contract may be frustrated where some physical item that is needed is destroyed or if it is
for personal services, the person dies or is ill.
A classic case for physical items is Taylor v Caldwell 1863. In this case the defendants
hired the Surrey Gardens and Music Hall to the plaintiffs for a series of concerts at a fee of
£100 per concert. After the contract was made the concert hall was accidentally destroyed in
a fire and so the concerts couldn’t go ahead. The plaintiffs sued the defendants for breach of
contract for not supplying the hall and wanted damages for their wasted advertising
expenditure. However, the court held that the contract was frustrated as the destruction of
the hall made performance of the contract impossible and was not foreseen by the parties
when they made the contract. The frustrating event had the effect of ending the contract and
thus ending the obligations of each party under the contract. This meant that the defendants
were no longer under an obligation to supply the hall and as such they were not in breach of
contract.
A more modern case on this is the Gamerco case that we deal with later.
A case for personal services is Robinson v Davison 1871 in which a contract was held to be
frustrated when a piano player was unable to perform a concert because of a serious illness.
Thus, the lady was able to successfully defend an action for breach of contract. For illnesses,
the courts have to take account of the nature of the illness to see whether it defeats the whole
point of the contract or not.