Canadian Contract Law/Remedies for Breach

Remedies for Breach

If a contract is broken, the injured party might be expected to demand any of the following:

• to have what they gave returned to them ("restitution")
• compensation for their loss ("damages")
• forcing the other party to live up to the contract ("specific performance")

In the common law tradition, damages is the usual remedy that a court awards for a broken contract. Restitution and specific performance are only available in specific circumstances.

Damages

Compensation to attempt to put victim in position he/she would have been in if contract properly performed

Rescission

Rescission (to "set aside" a contract) refers to the cancellation of the contract between the parties. This is done to bring the parties as far as possible to the position they were before they entered into a contract. This an equitable remedy and is discretionary. The court may decline to rescind a contract if one party has affirmed the contract by his action (see Long v Lloyd) or a third party has acquired some rights or there has been substantial performance in implementing the contract.