School of legal studies

Subject: Law of contract 1

Topic : impossibility of
performance.
Professor : Yamini
Presented by: k.vinay jaswanth
SRN : R18ALO14.
Reva university
Bengaluru.
Table of contents::-
• What is impossibility of performance.
• Examples of impossibility of
performance.
• How will court respond.
• When is impossibility of performance
Raised ?
• When is impossibility not a defence ?
• Conclusion.
Introduction:- impossibility of
performance is a doctrine where by one
party can be released from a contract due
to unforeseen circumstances that render
performance. Impossibility of performance
is a doctrine where by one party can be
released from a contract due to unforeseen
circumstances that render performance
under the contract impossible.
Examples of impossibility of performance:
Below these examples are impossibility of
performance .
• One of the parties is injured and can no
longer perform the duties identified in
the contract.
• Stolen or destroyed property i.e.,
contract for home remodeling that can
no longer be performed if the home is
destroyed.
 • Whether conditions.
• Natural disaster
• Government passes a law making the
performance illegal.
How will the court respond :- when a court
looks at this type of legal dispute. It will
have to look at the condition of the
performance based on the circumstances
that have changed from the initial date
when the contract was entered into. In
order to do this, the following must have
occurred:
• A contingency must have occurred i.e..,
something unexpected.
• The risk of the unexpected occurrence
must not have been due to the
negligence of either party.
 • The circumstances must have rendered
performance under the contract
commercially impractible.
All three things must be present I.
Order for the court to deem an
impossibility of performance; however
while a party might think it’s hard to
prove, such arguments are common in
contractual disputes .most courts find
that such disputes hold weight, and thus
void the contract due to the impossibility
of performing under the contract.
When is impossibility of performance
Raised ?- This is raised as a defence in a
breach of contract claim .For example,if
the plaintiff alleges that the defendant
breached his contractual duties, the
defendant would bring this claim
indicating that he cannot perform under the
contract due to one of the above-
mentioned scenarios . Therefore,if the
contract involves a homeowner paying a
contractor to remodel his backyard and a
hurricane occurs ,then the contractor
cannot be held liable for not performing ,as
performance during the time of the
hurricane is impossible.
If the court agrees with the defandent,
then the entire contract will be terminated.
Furthermore,if performance under the
contract is no longer physically possible,
then future performance would also be
excused. An example of this would be if a
homeowner hires someone to install a new
roof, then the court would n't be able to
enforce anything or provide remedy to
either party since the fire itself was at no
fault of either party.
When is impossibility Not a defence?
Impossibility isn't a defence in the
following circumstances::-
• If the person making the promise in the
contract is the one who caused the
contract to become impossible to
perform.
• If the impossibility is forsceable.
• If the occurrence is not severe enough.
An example of causing performance
to be impossible would be if John
promises to pay sue if she agrees to
take care of his dog for a week .
However,if sue causes the dog's death
before performance under the contract
ensues,then John will not be required to
pay sue anything.in fact, John can bring
a claim against sue for the death of his
dog and recover.
 If the impossibility is forsceable,or
predictable,then the impossibility
doctrine cannot be used as a
defence.An example of this would be if
John’s dog was very sick when John
and sue initially entered into the
contract .sue already knew when
entering into the contract that John’s
dog was very sick . Therefore, it is
reasonably forsceable that the dog
might pass away before performance
under the contract begins.
If the occurrence isn't severe
enough,then the defence of
impossibility cannot be used. For
example if the cost of performance
under the contract increases by a small
amount, then the contract would still be
enforceable. Some business
transactions could see a fluctuation in
price , particularly if the price of
certain materials increases overtime.
While other contractual disputes can
arise based on the change in price, the
impossibility defence can’t be used.
Conclusion:- The impossibility of a
performance is a doctrine to impossible
to do one of the party , the contract is
getting in to the void contract then the
contract is impossible and as well as it
is getting in to the wagering contract.
If the impossibility to do the
performance the contract or the
aggrement is getting to the void aggrei
between the 2 parties.
This is called as impossibility of
performance.