Book Opener

Money damages are themost common remedyfor breach of contract.Minors are not bound bycontracts but are generallyheld responsible forreturning goods thatthey received as a resultof willfully entering acontract.Example 8. Harold is negotiating a contract for the purchase ofan antique printing press from Mr. Frolock. The price was set,and the printing press was to be delivered the next day. That night,however, the press was destroyed when the delivery truck carryingit was involved in an accident.This contract would be discharged because of the destruction of the particularsubject matter that had been identified in the contract.However, compare Example 8 with the following example:Example 9. Broz Kucan went into the Kenney Industrial SupplyShop and selected a particular type of sewing machine for histailoring business. The salesperson told Kucan that the shop hadmany of the machines in the warehouse and that one would bedelivered to him the next day. That night, a fire destroyed theKenney Industrial Supply Shop’s warehouse and all of its contents.The shop would still be obligated to obtain another sewingmachine for Kucan. Although a type of model had been selected,the exact machine had not been chosen.Sometimes the means for performance of a contract is destroyed sothat the contract cannot be completed. For example, suppose a personcontracts to reshingle the roof of a house, but the house is destroyedbefore the job is done. The contract is dischargedbecause the house must exist for the job to beperformed.IllegalityAnother type of impossibility of performancearises when performance of the contract becomesillegal. As previous chapters discuss, acontract is considered void if its performancewould be illegal at the time the agreement was232 Unit 2: Entering Into ContractsLEGALITYSome street vendors contract with abusiness to sell their goods on the street.If an unlicensed vendor made such anagreement with a business and a lawwas later passed that required streetvendors to be licensed, would thecontract between the vendor and thebusiness be legal?