Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

anticipatory breach

A breach of contract caused by a party's anticipatory repudiation, i.e., unequivocally indicating that the party will not perform when performance is due. 9 Under these circumstances, the nonbreaching party may elect to treat the repudiation as an immediate breach and sue for damages. -Also termed constructive breach. See REPUDIATION. "A repudiation by one party may occur before the time for performance has arrived. Such a repudiation is called an anticipatory breach, and it gives the innocent party the option of treating the contract as terminated at once and suing for damages immediately if he chooses or, alternatively, of waiting until the time of performance has arrived, and then again calling on the other party to perform. Should he choose the latter course he runs the risk that the contract may possibly become frustrated in the interim, in which case he will have lost his right to damages." P.S. Atiyah, An Introduction to the Law of Contract 298 (3d ed. 1981).