There are four ways a contract can be downloaded. They are by performance, agreement, repudiation and frustration. When a contract is considered to be fulfilled by performance, what it means is that the parties to the contract have fulfilled their legal obligation and there is no longer a need to continue the contract. For example, Ben offered his expensive watch to Sam for $5,000. Sam accepted the offer, and Ben handed the watch over to Sam, and in return, Sam paid him the agreed amount of money. In this case, the contract has been concluded since both parties have fulfilled their contractual obligation. Unfortunately, life is not as simple as this, as there are circumstances in which the parties to the contract may find it difficult to meet their contractual obligations. In such a situation, there may only be skewed performance and the question is whether this is acceptable.

Let’s say Simon is a math tutor and he agrees with Mary to teach her math tuition for 10 lessons at $100 per lesson. Simon completes 6 lessons and cannot continue teaching Mary because he has some personal problems that he needs to resolve. The question is whether Mary has to pay for the 6 lessons Simon has already given. At one point, the court held that if a party to a contract has not fully performed its obligation, there is no need to compensate it. However, over a period of time the court has reconsidered this and there is now a possibility that Simon could claim all 6 lessons on the basis of what is called a “quantum merit”. This is a Latin phrase meaning ‘payment for work done’. But Simon’s ability to claim partial payment is based on whether Mary has ever benefited from the contract. In this case, Mary may have benefited from the contract and she may have to pay. However, if Simon only gave a lesson and stopped teaching her, perhaps Mary could refuse to pay, since she can claim that she has not benefited from the contract. This is relatively subjective and is something the court might have to decide based on the merits of the case, if that case ever goes to court.

However, there are circumstances in which it is not necessary to compensate partial performance. What if you order a chicken cutlet at a restaurant and it turns out to be half cooked? Can you pay half price for this? Obviously not!

Another form of settlement of a contract is by agreement. This is when both parties agree before entering into the contract that when a certain event occurs, the contract will be canceled or that if either party wishes to terminate the contract, they must give the other party a period of notice. Termination by agreement is a common feature in the employment contract where the parties can agree in advance that if the employee wants to resign, they must give a period of notice and vice versa for the employer as well. Another example is the prenuptial agreement that couples enter into before marriage.

The third way in which a contract is executed is by Repudiation. This is where one of the parties deliberately breaches the agreement. For example, Michael agreed to sell his piano to Susie for $3,000. Susie agrees to buy the piano and tells Michael that she will pay him the money the next day. Brad then shows up and agrees to buy the piano from Michael for $5000. Michael sells the piano to Brad. By doing this, he is breaking his agreement with Susie, as the contract has already been decided between Michael and Susie. Susie has the right to sue Michael for breach of contract. There is a possibility that the court will order Michael to buy the piano from Brad and sell it to Susie at the agreed price or he will give Susie some kind of compensation.

The last method of a contract is fulfilled in frustration. This means that one or both parties cannot fulfill their contractual obligation due to some unforeseen event that prevents them from continuing with the contractual relationship. You bought a ticket to see a concert of a famous pop group. Before the concert, the lead singer of the pop group members died of a drug overdose. Therefore, the concert is canceled as it would be impossible to continue with the concert. Therefore, the contract is considered frustrated. So you can get a refund on the ticket you bought. It is also possible for a contract to be terminated when the contract becomes illegal to perform. For example, if there is a product for sale and the government subsequently passes legislation banning the product, further sales of the product are considered illegal.

Once the contract is terminated, the contract comes to an end.