Contractual frustration under English law: doctrine, recognised events, limitations, consequences and the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943
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Overview
This Practice Note sits within our LLB Contract Law series, designed expressly for law students. It sets out the doctrine of frustration as a route by which contractual duties are discharged in English law. It sketches the conceptual foundations of frustration and separates it from discharge through performance, breach, or mutual agreement. The Note traces the doctrine’s evolution from Taylor v Caldwell [1861–73] All ER Rep 24 to the modern, markedly different approach in Davis Contractors v Fareham UDC [1956] AC 696. It analyses the main classes of frustrating events, including destruction of the subject matter, personal incapacity, failure of a contemplated event to occur, supervening illegality, and war, and explores the doctrine’s boundaries, including self-induced frustration and agreements in which the parties have allocated risk. It also sets out the legal effects, namely automatic discharge and the statutory reallocation of losses under the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943. It concludes by emphasising the doctrine’s limited reach and its function in calibrating certainty with fairness in exceptional cases. It remains a narrow doctrine used only in truly exceptional circumstances in practice.
Introduction
Once a contract is validly made, the parties are obliged to fulfil their primary duties. However,...
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Web page updated on 21/05/2026
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I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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