Law of Construction Disputes, The
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CHAPTER 8
Termination of contract
Termination versus determination
A construction contract can be terminated where one of the parties has acted in a way that is so wrongful that the law allows the other to end the contract, i.e. the contract has been breached. Termination can happen two ways – by either a common law determination, where the guilty party must have committed a fundamental, or repudiatory, breach and the innocent party must have, by word or action, elected to accept the repudiation, or a contractual determination where a party may lawfully determine the contract by exercising powers to the effect expressly provided for in a contractual termination clause.