Paper on “Rights to Terminate a Commercial Contract”

Date: 18 January 2018

Rights to Terminate a Commercial Contract: Successful Use and Liability for Misuse

It is often the case that one party to a commercial contract wishes to bring that contract to an end, whether as a result of default on the part of the other party or otherwise. As litigators are well aware, such decisions must be taken with utmost care because – in wrongly purporting to terminate a contract – a party can, in principle, leave itself exposed to a claim for substantial loss of bargain damages from the other party.

In such circumstances, issues can arise out of the particular terms in which a party purports to terminate. Moreover, particularly complex issues can arise out of attempts to rely upon more than one termination right at the same time.

In their paper (for the Society of Construction Law Hong Kong) David Thomas QC and Matthew Finn offer their thoughts on the potential consequences of framing a termination notice in particular terms, and the circumstances in which a party may successfully use alternative termination rights together.

The full paper can be viewed here: SCL HK Paper – Rights to Terminate a Commercial Contract