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by techdragon 1139 days ago
Those remedies are against the parties breaching the contract. It’s a small hair to split, but relevant given the point being made.

contract law is the body of precedent and collective set of laws related to the legality, construction, execution and all around use of contracts, and while I’m sure there are some specific extra laws that make breach of certain types of contracts a misdemeanour or felony. Generally speaking in most jurisdictions around the world in fact, breach of contract is a civil law matter between the parties of the contract, and settlement of the civil law side of the “is this actually a breach of contract” is usually necessary first before any potential criminal liability can be applied.

An example: An contract can be invalidated for lack of sufficient consideration offered (peppercorn isn’t always enough to make it valid)… this makes the contract void, not illegal. This is a simple example but it illustrates the basic point well, and I’m not trying to write a legal theory essay while on the way to work.

2 comments

> Those remedies are against the parties breaching the contract.

Yes, remedies in the law are invariably against the party breaking the law, not the people complying with the law. What would be the point of sanctions for not breaking the law?

> while I’m sure there are some specific extra laws that make breach of certain types of contracts a misdemeanour or felony. Generally speaking in most jurisdictions around the world in fact, breach of contract is a civil law matter between the parties of the contract

So, what I just said that breach of contract is a violation of the law for which there are sanctions available, but not in and of itself criminal. That was a…very argumentative agreement.

Well so it is… I misunderstood your viewpoint since it was put so succinctly. With the added context of your reply, I see what you meant and yeah… I was quite argumentative in my agreement, fortunately it was an argument for the same view and you decided to kindly reply and point it out. :-)
As an aside, I found it entertaining to watch two dragons spar. :)
Those remedies are against the parties breaching the contract.

There are also remedies against those who interfere with a contract they are not party to. This is called tortious interference [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference