§ 19-2 Contract - Breach of Contract - Defined

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 19-2 Contract - Breach of Contract - Defined

The word "breach," as it applies to contracts, is defined as a failure without legal excuse to perform any promise which forms a whole or a part of a contract, including the refusal of a party to recognize the existence of the contract or the doing of something inconsistent with its existence. When performance of a duty under a contract is due, any nonperformance is a breach. In other words, a party breaches a contract when he does not perform as he agreed to perform under the contract.

A party's contractual duty is found in the obligation assumed by the party to the contract. A party's failure to comply with the contractual duty constitutes the breach. Nonperformance of a valid contract is a breach thereof. A breach occurs when a party refuses or neglects to perform some duty required by the terms of the contract.

A breach of contract is any unjustified failure to perform any promise, express or implied, that is a part of the contract, or a violation or nonfulfillment of the obligations, agreements or duties imposed by the contract, or the commission or omission of some act that violates the express or implied undertakings contained in the contract.

A breach may occur when a party without legal excuse fails to perform any promise that is all or part of the contract, or knowingly prevents, hinders or makes more costly the other party's performance, or in advance of the due date of his performance...