Impossibility - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition impossibility

Definition :

Impossibility. If a man contract to do a thing which is absolutely impossible by its nature, such contract will not bind him--lex non cogit ad impossibilia, e.g., where the subject-matter has perished before date of contract, or never existed [see (English) Sale of Goods Act, 1893, s. 6; and Conturier v. Hastie, (1852) 8 Ex 43 & HLC 673]; but where the contract operating as a transfer of real property, e.g., as a demise, is to do a thing which is possible in itself, but which becomes impossible, he will be liable for the breach; thus, where a lessee covenants to repair and to leave in repair the demised premises he is not discharged from his liability because they happen to be destroyed [see Bullock v. Dommitt, (1796) 6 TR 650]; or requisitioned by the military, Whitehall Court Ltd. v. Etlinger, (1920) 1 KB 680.

The non-performance of a contract which arises from an act of the law having rendered performance impossible is excused, see Baily v. De Crespigny, (1869) LR 4 QB 180; Re Shipton, (1915) 3 KB 676.

The perishing of the subject-matter of a contract in cases where it is apparent that the parties contracted on the basis of its continued existence is also an excuse for non-performance; if the event has not been foreseen or expressly provided for in the contract, the event is now called 'frustration' of the contract or adventure, see Taylor v. Caldwell, (1863) 3 B&S 326, where the defendant was held excused from payment of damages for non-performance of an agreement to let a music-hall to the plaintiff for entertainments for four non-consecutive days, by reason of the hall having been burnt down before the first of the days arrived; and the principle of this case was applied in Krell v. Henry, (1903) 2 KB 740, where the contract was to pay for a flat from which to view the Coronation procession on two fixed days. See also Elliott v. Crutchley, 1906 AC 7. In Minnevitch v. Caf' de Paris (Londres), 52 TLR 413, it was held that the closing of a case during a period of public mourning did not render a contract for band performances there reasonably impossible. As to the effect of a declaration of war upon a contract of agency in an alien territory, see Jebara v. Ottoman Bank, (1927) 2 KB 254; 1928 AC 269. A feature of a contract which has been terminated in this way is that money paid or the price of services rendered before the termination cannot be recovered [see Blakely v. Muller, (1903) 2 KB 760, in notis, and Cantiere di San Rocco v. Clde Shipbuilding Co., 1924 AC 226], unless (presumably), the whole of the contract has been performed on the one side and nothing in consideration thereof has been done by the other. Frustration of a contract by act of the party relying upon it will prevent him from taking any advantage of the circumstance, Maritime National Fish Co. v. Ocean Trawlers Ltd., 1935 AC 524.

Impossibility owing to illness terminates a contract for personal services. The outbreak of war may terminate an executory contract, but only suspends the remedies if it has been executed, Halsb. L.E.; Hailsham, Edn., tit. 'Contracts,' p. 261, and see generally (ibid), pp. 213, etc. see Addison, Chitty, or Leake on Contracts.

Means (1) The fact or condition of not being able to occur, exist, or be done (2) A fact or circumstances that cannot occur, exist, or be done, (3) Contracts a fact or circumstance that excuses performance because (1) the subject or means of performance has deteriorated, has been destroyed, or is no longer available, (2) the method of delivery or payment has failed, (3) a law now prevents performance, or (4) death or illness prevents performance, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 759