''Johnson v Agnew''

980 Year 980 ( CMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) a ...

AC 367 is a landmark

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

case on the date for assessing damages. Lord Wilberforce decided that the date appropriate is the date of breach, ''or'' when a contracting party could reasonably be aware of a breach. Five major principles it laid down were, #termination for breach of contract is "prospective", not "retrospective"; i.e. repudiatory breach of contract discharges both parties from future performance of their contractual obligations, but leaves their accrued rights intact (and themselves open to damages) #a claimant for specific performance does not forfeit his right to terminate the contract by accepting a defendant's repudiatory breach #when a specific performance decree is made, a court oversees performance, and it has the sole jurisdiction to determine whether that obligation can be discharged #common law damages are assessed at the date of the breach of the contract, though the court may fix another date if justice requires #the same principles for awarding common law damages applies to awarding equitable damages under s 50

Supreme Court Act 1981 The Senior Courts Act 1981 (c.54), originally named the Supreme Court Act 1981, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act prescribes the structure and jurisdictions of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (previously known as ...

Facts

The 'commonplace, indeed routine'per

Lord Wilberforce Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce, (11 March 1907 – 15 February 2003) was a British judge. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1964 to 1982. Early life and career Born in Jalandhar, India, Richard Wilberforce was the son of S ...

AC 367, 390 facts were that Mrs Adeline Agnew twice failed to complete purchase of Michael and Renee Johnson's farm, Scheepcote Grange, Woodburn Common,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. She had contracted to buy the farm on 1 November 1973 for £117,000. When everything was ready in December and January 1974, she did nothing. Meanwhile, the Johnsons were in financial trouble. They were in arrears on mortgage repayments. In March 1974 they claimed

specific performance Specific performance is an equitable remedy in the law of contract, whereby a court issues an order requiring a party to perform a specific act, such as to complete performance of the contract. It is typically available in the sale of land law, ...

of the contract, and won summary judgment in June, but the order was not drawn up until November, and so the Johnsons left it, because in the meantime, the mortgagees had won orders for possession and sale of the property. The Johnsons' lawyer advised there was no point enforcing against Agnew. The mortgagees only realised £48,000, not even enough to discharge the Johnsons' mortgage debts. The Johnsons' creditors filed them into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. This was adjourned, and the Johnsons' brought a claim against Agnew seeking the purchase price (less deposit and the £48,000 realised on sale by the mortgagees), and a declaration that the contract was repudiated and to keep the deposit price.

Judgment

said, On the prospective nature of a repudiatory breach, he said this.

Notes

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References

*Charles Mitchell (professor), C Mitchell, 'Johnson v Agnew (1974)' in C Mitchell and P Mitchell (eds), ''

Landmark Cases in the Law of Contract ''Landmark Cases in the Law of Contract'' (2008) is a book by Charles Mitchell and Paul Mitchell, which outlines the key cases in English contract law. Content The cases discussed are, *'' Coggs v Barnard'' (1703) on bailment *''Pillans v Van ...

'' (Hart, Oxford 2008) ch 12, 351-373 Lord Wilberforce cases English remedy case law House of Lords cases 1980 in United Kingdom case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References