Metropolitan Water Board v Dick Kerr and Co Ltd [1918] AC 119, HOL
Citation:Metropolitan Water Board v Dick Kerr and Co Ltd [1918] AC 119, HOL.
Rule of thumb:Does excessive delay end a contract? Yes, where a delay is excessively late this frustrates and ends the contract.
Judgment:
The Court in this case affirmed a seminal rule relating to frustration caused by time. This rule basically cannot be argued with and it is an extremely important principle at the foundations of this principle. The seminal rule is that if the delay is excessive then the contract is frustrated and over - what would be considered an excessive delay is a matter that can divide opinion however.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘An interruption may be so long as to destroy the identity of the work or service, when resumed, with the work or service when interrupted’, Lord Dunedin, ‘An interruption so great and long as to make it unreasonable to require the parties to go on’, Lord Atkinson, 'An interruption may be so long as to destroy the identity of the work', Lord Dunedin
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