Anticipatory repudiation
(or anticipatory breach) is a
term in the law of contracts that describes a
declaration by one party (the promissing party)
to a contract that they do not intend to live up
to their obligations under the contract. Where
such an event occurs, the other party (the
performing party) to the contract is excused from
having to fulfill their obligations. However, the
repudiation can be retracted by the promising
party so long as there has been no material
change in the position of the performing party in
the interim. A retraction of the repudiation
restores the performer's obligation to perform on
the contract.
If the repudiation occurs by the promising party
making it impossible to fulfill their promise,
then no act by the promising party can restore
the performer's obligation to perform on the
contract. For example, if A promises to give B a
unique sculpture in exchange for B painting A's
house, but A then sells the sculpture to C before
B completes the job, this act by A constitutes an
anticipatory repudiation which excuses B from
completing the job. Once the sculpture has left
A's possession, there is no way that A can
fulfill the promise to give the sculpture to B.
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