Repudiation

To repudiate a contract is to indicate an inability or unwillingness to perform it in such a way as to deprive the aggrieved party of substantially the whole benefit of the bargain represented by the contract.

A “repudiatory” breach of contract is a one which is sufficiently serious to indicate a party has repudiated the contract, thereby entitling the innocent party to terminate the contract.

In this case the innocent party has two options: It can

• accept the repudiation and treat the contract as at an end; or
• affirm the contract and insist on performance by the repudiating party.

Surely, you can’t be serious

I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.

The $64,000 question: What counts as “sufficiently serious”?