TABLE OF CONTENTS The text has already shown that there are many pitfalls in getting to a binding contract. Nine situations have been given, any one of which can deny the existence of a contract. One of these situations (improper formation) itself has five criteria, failure in any one of which may cause the contract not to be formed. This already reveals a lot about the nature of contractual relationships. More is learned in considering the circumstances in which matters go awry.
Just as the parties are free to make their contract they are free to unmake it and to decide their own terms for so doing. This may be appropriate where circumstances have changed dramatically and both sides see no merit in continuing with their contract.
Some contracts expressly allow the buyer (not usually the seller) to unilaterally and prematurely end the contract under a cancellation for convenience arrangement. Such a right must be included in the express terms of the contract. A buyer who says that we can always cancel the contract to put pressure on the seller is making an empty threat if he has no express right to cancel, provided that the seller is performing the contract properly.
If one party to the contract expressly or impliedly announces to the other that he will not see the contract through, then he is said to be repudiating the contract. A failure to perform a contractual obligation is called breach of contract...
