in The Oxford History of the Laws of England: Volume XIII: Fields of Development

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1 University Press Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 41 items for: keywords : breach of contract Trade Secrets and Other Confidences William Cornish in The Oxford History of the Laws of England: Volume XIII: Fields of Development Published in print: 2010 Published Online: May 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ This chapter on laws governing trade secrets and other confidences in the 19th century discusses the innominate equity against breach of confidence and equity against breach of confidence as properly grounded in contract, express or implied. Inducing Breach of Contract Hazel Carty in An Analysis of the Economic Torts Published in print: 2010 Published Online: January 2011 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ The classic form of this tort, as featured in Lumley v Gye, involves the defendant persuading the claimant's contract partner to contract breach. Subsequently courts accepted varieties of this tort, some of which focused not on inducement but prevention and one of which focused on interference rather than inducement. This uncertain ambit resulted from the failure to identify the other major general economic tort namely the unlawful means tort. OBG re-asserts the classic scope of this tort, rejecting the modern varieties (most of which would now be covered by the unlawful means tort) and restricting liability to those claimants who have actual knowledge of the contract which they seek to persuade the claimant's partner to breach. This chapter explores the development of this tort, its relationship to the unlawful means tort and its analysis in OBG as a tort of secondary or accessory civil liability. Page 1 of 6

2 Accessories Robert Stevens in Torts and Rights Published in print: 2007 Published Online: January 2009 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ The rule in Lumley v Gye is best explained on the basis that contractual rights carry with them a secondary right good against the rest of the world that they do not induce its infringement. The serpent was worse than Eve, and it is a wrong to undermine the bond of trust between persons upon which promises rely by procuring their breach. There is no general principle of accessory liability for wrongs committed by others. The most closely related wrong is found in equity: dishonest assistance in a breach of fiduciary duty. An Analysis of the Economic Torts Hazel Carty Published in print: 2010 Published Online: January 2011 ISBN: eisbn: Item type: book acprof:oso/ The economic torts for too long have been under-theorised and underexplored by academics and the judiciary alike. Also in recent years claimants have exploited the resulting chaos by attempting to use the economic torts in ever more exotic ways. This book attempts to provide practical legal research to both explore the ingredients of all these torts both the general economic torts (inducing breach of contract, the unlawful means tort, intimidation, the conspiracy torts) and the misrepresentation economic torts (deceit, malicious falsehood, and passing off) and their rationales. In addition, an optimum framework for these torts is suggested. However, that framework has to take on board the apparent tension within the House of Lords as revealed in the recent decisions in OBG v Allan and Total Network v Revenue. These decisions and the conflict of policy that appears to lie behind them reveal different agendas for the future development of the general economic torts. These agendas are debated (against the background of the growing academic debate) and a coherent approach suggested. As for the misrepresentation torts their potential for development is also discussed and the peril of allowing them to transform into unfair trading or misappropriation torts is explained. The thesis of this book remains Page 2 of 6

3 that a coherent framework for these torts can best be constructed based on a narrow remit for the common law. Classification Robert Stevens in Torts and Rights Published in print: 2007 Published Online: January 2009 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ In order to understand and justify the law of torts it is necessary to understand its place on the map of private law. The law of torts is not a free-standing subject. Torts belong in the same sequence as breach of contract and equitable wrongs. Torts is a catch all category of other wrongs. The law of torts has no free-standing existence independent of the primary rights, such as property rights, upon which it depends. Within the law of torts the picture is one of chaos. Torts are classified according to context (e.g., occupiers, products), degree of fault (e.g., negligence) and right infringed (e.g., defamation). The economic torts have no inherent unity. No subject can be understood in the way presented in the standard texts. Classification according to primary right is to be preferred, and the so-called tort of negligence should be abandoned. Failure of Consideration Graham Virgo in The Principles of the Law of Restitution Published in print: 2006 Published Online: January 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Where the claimant transfers a benefit to the defendant pursuant to a transaction which is subject to a condition, or a basis, and this condition has not been satisfied, it is possible to conclude that there has been a failure of consideration and this may enable the claimant to bring a restitutionary claim. Failure of consideration is not a ground of restitution in its own right but is rather a general principle which underlies the existence of a number of particular grounds of restitution that are especially important in the modern law of restitution. This chapter discusses the principle of failure of consideration, the grounds of restitution which are founded on the principle of failure of consideration, failure of the defendant to perform his or her part of the bargain, Page 3 of 6

4 nature of the enrichment, relationship between damages for breach of contract and restitution to reverse unjust enrichment, total failure of consideration, partial failure of consideration, and void contracts. CONTRACT: IN GENERAL Ewan McKendrick in English Private Law Published in print: 2013 Published Online: September 2013 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ A contract is an agreement which is either enforced by law or recognized by law as affecting the rights and duties of the parties. This chapter on the law of contract discusses the following: constituent elements, contents, standard terms, mistake, misrepresentation, improper pressure, illegality, lack of capacity, plurality of parties, third parties, transfer of contractual rights, performance, breach, and frustration. Termination of the Contract G. H. Treitel in Remedies for Breach of Contract: A Comparative Account Published in print: 1988 Published Online: March 2012 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ A party who is aggrieved as a result of not obtaining the performance for which he bargained, may wish to put an end to further performance of the contract and also so far as possible to put matters back into the position in which they were before performance on either side was begun. This chapter discusses cases of contractual default. In particular it covers problems which arise out of the delivery of defective goods under contracts of sale, such delivery being regarded as contractual default in common law countries, while in civil law countries it may only give rise to guarantee liabilities. One of the civil law remedies used for enforcing such liabilities, that of redhibition or Wandelung, is so closely analogous to remedies available by way of termination for contractual default that the two kinds of remedy are conveniently discussed together. Page 4 of 6

5 Restitution for Breach of Contract Graham Virgo in The Principles of the Law of Restitution Published in print: 2006 Published Online: January 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Where the defendant has breached a contract, the claimant can obtain damages which are assessed by reference to any loss or injury which he or she has suffered. In general, the purpose of such damages is to place the claimant in the position he or she would have been in had the contract not been breached. This involves the protection of the so-called expectation interest and reliance interest. This chapter examines whether there is a third interest which should be protected by the award of damages where the defendant has breached a contract, namely, the restitution interest. The general principle denying restitution for breach of contract is discussed, along with methods for awarding restitutionary remedies for breach of contract (identification of a fiduciary relationship, tortious wrongdoing, and price payable for interference with property rights). The Unlawful Means Tort 1 Hazel Carty in An Analysis of the Economic Torts Published in print: 2010 Published Online: January 2011 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Although the existence of this tort is implicit in the discussion in Allen v Flood, it has only received its first real analysis in OBG. This chapter maps the history of the tort and its relationship to the tort of inducing breach of contract (the unlawful means tort involving stand-alone, primary liability). It explores its key ingredients: intention and unlawful means. As is revealed, uncertainties remain post-obg given the orthodox definition of intention for this tort is apparently rejected, and given Lord Hoffmann (speaking for the majority) and Lord Nicholls disagreed on the definition of unlawful means. The implications for the future of this tort are then debated, centred on a discussion of the possible polices that could shape the definition of unlawful means. In addition, this tort is distinguished from an obscure principle of equity that originates from the decision in Springhead Spinning v Riley. Page 5 of 6

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