Frustration and supervening impossibility / The doctrines of consideration and promissary estoppel

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject Business economics - Law, grade: 2,8, Ashcroft International Business School Cambridge, course: Comparative Business Law, language: English, abstract: In English law, a contracting party is generally bound to the promise he has given and is not easily excused from his liability. However, there is an exception to this principle of pacta sunt servanda if non-performance is caused by upheavals beyond the parties' control. The purpose of this essay is to give a short overview about this issue. I will start by examining the connection between the doctrines of impossibility and frustration. Afterwards I will have a more detailed look on the concept of frustration in English law and continue by briefly outlining the corresponding principles in other legal systems. In order to illustrate the rather abstract concept I will contrast two cases in detail and point to a few other ones in more general terms.