Is there such a think as relying on past performance within a contract?

K-town

Hi everyone

My contract law is a little rusty to say the least and I was just wondering if there was such a thing as relying on past performance within a contract.

Something tells me that there is i.e Party A behaved a certain way towards Party B during a contract for a number of years, that contract is still on-going and now Party A has changed the way they are behaving.

Can Party B rely on how Party A used to behave?

I realise that I have probably not given a very good example or explained myself very well, but any help appreciated.

I have tried myself to look it up but to no avail, although I am only using the internet as I dont have textbooks close to hand.

Thanks K

McCrack

Terms can be implied into a contract by course of dealings, I cant elaborate off the top of my head but yes over time implied terms can be construed which have as much contractual force as terms expressly agreed by the parties, it really depends on the facts and circumstances but it is possible.

Tom Young

The answer is basically yes, but it depends on the subject matter. Debt collection is an interesting one for example in the course of dealing.

Tom

Victor

"Legitimate expectation" is the term I think.

Imagine a builder and his sub-contractors. While there may be no written contract in place, the sub-sontractors get paid at the end of the month. This is relied on by the sub-contractors for paying workers and suppliers.

At short notice, the builder tells the subcontractors that he won't be paying them this month because he will be on holidays. It is likely that the subcontractors can make a successful claim.

Tom Young

Load of cases on this, an off shoot of Estoppel. Place that in the thread search and you'll see some answers.

Legitimate Expectation is one strand.