Study On Frustration Of Purpose

A contract's purpose directs the contract itself.It occupies an important position in concluding,performing and rescinding a contract.The essence of a contract's purpose is to ensure the smooth performance of a contract through both parties' agreeing to a reasonable price and setting up obligations.This article starts with the definition of the contract's purpose,its characteristics,and its relationship with the principles for change of circumstances and breach of contract,and explores the significance and role of setting up the contract's purpose.The first part concerns the basic issues in the contractual purpose.This part attempts to usher in the concept for contractual purpose by a case,and then studies the definition of the contractual purpose.The author at first discusses it from the perspective of semantics and normative theories.However,it has been found that the research could not be provided with a complete explanation by these theories and that it should set off from the perspective of the change of interests instead.Accordingly,the scope for the contractual purpose of the contract is divided into two categories: the purpose of a typical transaction and the motivation of a given situation.As for the purpose of a typical transaction,it should be discussed from two perspectives – abstract and concrete.In this section,the author continues to study the historical evolution of the contractual purposeunder the Chinese law,with the aim to find out whether the connotation of the contractual purpose also contains spiritual interests.This attempt has been confirmed from the perspective of comparative law.Finally,the author cites the view of Anglo-American jurists on the issue of common ends so as to explain the existence of common ends.The second part: the frustration of a contract's purpose and the rescission of a contract.The author believes that to explore the frustration of the contractual purpose,it necessarily finds out the contract's purpose at first,that is,how to determine a contract's purpose,and explains the interpretative methods specifically.With regard to the frustration of the contractual purpose,the author has sort out the frustration of and motivation for a typical transaction respectively.Further,the purpose of a typical transaction can be explored from the abstract and concrete perspectives of the specific circumstances of its failure.Specifically speaking,it is relatively easy to figure out why a typical transaction failed in an abstract light,but comparatively it is much complicated to do so in a concrete light.By citing laws and cases,the author has come to the main conclusion that two factors – delay and incomplete performance — account for a transaction's failure,and elaborated on the question that to what extent a contract's delayed implementation and its incomplete fulfillment will lead to the frustration.Generally speaking,there is no necessary connection between the default and the failure to achieve the purpose of the contract,for the purpose of representation.However,some certain circumstances would inevitably result in the frustration of a contract's purpose and it rescission.As for the contractual motivation,it's much more complicated to find out it.The author starts with the definition of motivation,in the belief that the motivation for a contract can be regarded as its purpose under certain circumstances.For this,the author has analyzed the unity of purpose and motivation under the framework of the purpose of Anglo-American law from the perspective of comparative law.The author thinks that there are three elements for the failure of the motivation(purpose): first,the motivation has not been written into the clauses and it is the implied condition forconcluding the contract;second,the main motivation is frustrated;and third,the non-occurrence of unforeseeable events must necessarily form the basis for the contract's basic assumptions(excluding business risks).On the basis of the above mentioned three elements,the author has explained it from the perspectives of jurisprudence and the case law.