Contract Law

Chapter 10 Lecture Notes

Discharge of Obligations

            This chapter is a basic, straightforward chapter dealing with the various methods by which a contracting party may be discharged from his or her contractual obligations without being held in breach of contract.  For the most part, students do not have much problem with this material and it can be covered fairly quickly.
            The Chapter Overview provides a preview of the eight methods of discharge that will be discussed in the text.  The overview if fairly brief and merely introduces the concepts that are going to be discussed.
            Section B, Methods of Discharge, details all of the basic methods of discharging one’s contractual obligations.  The two areas that generally deserve more focus are the first method, Excuse of Conditions, because it raises many of the theories discussed in Chapter 7, and Frustration of Purpose, because it is unusual.          

Sample Clauses provide some practical guidelines for incorporating the principles discussed in to drafting contract provisions.  Each sample is followed by a short analysis indicating the purpose and usefulness of the clause.
The Chapter Summary is divided into two main sections.  The first section is a prose recapitulation of the material covered in the chapter.  This section reinforces the material learned throughout the chapter and provides the student with a quick review.  The second section is the Synopsis, which acts as an outline of the material discussed and can be used as a quick reference or as the basis of classroom lecture notes.
The Key Terms section provides a glossary of all of the terms discussed in the chapter.  This section forces the student to focus on the exact legal definition of the terms employed, a basic requirement for any form of legal work.
Five exercise problems continue this chapter.  Questions 1, 3, and 4 ask the student to analyze the legal theories discussed in the chapter.  Questions 2 and 5 provide the opportunity for the student to do some simple contract drafting based on the text material.  These problems can be assigned as homework or could be the basis for exam questions.

Two Cases for Analysis are included so that some case analysis may be used as part of the classroom discussion. The first case discusses the elements of frustration of purpose needed to discharge a contract. The Club Factorage case highlights the concept of anticipatory repudiation.

The next section, Suggested Case Summaries, introduces each case by legal questions that the case attempts to answer. These questions focus the student in his or her reading of the cases and can be used for classroom discussion.
Lastly, the chapter concludes with a section on Ethical Considerations involving an attorney’s ethical responsibility with respect to terminating his or her representation of a client.