Breach of Contract in Commercial Agency Law

Contract disputes are an unfortunate fact of life in many areas of business, and commercial agency law is no exception. While negotiation can help to resolve most disputes and disagreements, when a breach of contract is sufficiently serious, the innocent party may be entitled to treat the contract as being at an end.

The right to terminate the agency contract does not arise through all breaches of contract. As a rule, the breach must strike to the heart of the contract. For example, merely being a few days late in paying a commission would not generally be seen as being a serious enough breach to terminate a contract.

However, if there are a number of small breaches over time, the final breach in combination with past breaches may be seen as "the straw that broke the camel's back", and can be regarded as sufficient grounds to bring the contract to an end.

As invalid termination of a contract can constitute a fundamental breach of contract in itself, terminating a contract is not a step that should be...