Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
In 2018, in One Step (Support) Ltd v Morris-Garner, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom laid down the circumstances in which damages for breach of contract may be measured by reference to the amount of the fee that the innocent party (the claimant) could have demanded from the breaching party (the defendant) for a release of the latter from the relevant obligation. The Court expressed the view that the award of such a notional fee, which it labelled ‘negotiating damages’, compensates for the loss of the value of the claimant’s right to control the use of an asset. This article, which adopts the Court’s terminology and compensatory characterization of negotiating damages, will briefly recount the development of that remedy in English contract law and evaluate the Supreme Court’s decision in Morris-Garner …

Sirko Harder, Negotiating Damages in English Contract Law, 14 FIU Law Review 45 (2020).

First posted 2020-05-14 10:29:48