Anticipatory
repudiation (or anticipatory breach)
is a term in the law of contracts that describes a
declaration by one party (the promissing party) to a
contract that they do not intend to live up to their
obligations under the contract. Where such an event
occurs, the other party (the performing party) to the
contract is excused from having to fulfill their
obligations. However, the repudiation can be retracted by
the promising party so long as there has been no material
change in the position of the performing party in the
interim. A retraction of the repudiation restores the
performer's obligation to perform on the contract.
If the repudiation occurs by the promising party making
it impossible to fulfill their promise, then no act by
the promising party can restore the performer's
obligation to perform on the contract. For example, if A
promises to give B a unique sculpture in exchange for B
painting A's house, but A then sells the sculpture to C
before B completes the job, this act by A constitutes an
anticipatory repudiation which excuses B from completing
the job. Once the sculpture has left A's possession,
there is no way that A can fulfill the promise to give
the sculpture to B. |
