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Glite Dictionary
constructive breach

constructive breach

9.6
When one side makes a contract impossible to carry out before it is due
  • noun
  • /kənˈstrʌktɪv briːtʃ/
  • Formal
translation icon : incumplimiento constructivo
  • The company was accused of a constructive breach for making the contract impossible to perform.

Examples

  • Courts may find a constructive breach when a party indicates it will not fulfill its contractual obligations.

  • By selling the property early, the landlord committed a constructive breach of the lease agreement.

  • The company committed a constructive breach of the contract.

  • After the delays, we argued that this was a constructive breach.

  • By selling the property early, the landlord committed a constructive breach of the lease agreement.

  • Courts may find a constructive breach when a party indicates it will not fulfill its contractual obligations.

  • The company was accused of a constructive breach for making the contract impossible to perform.

Synonyms

anticipatory breach
vsconstructive breach
  • Formal
1 9.9

A person or company saying before the agreed time that they will not do what the contract says

is inferred from actions that make performance impossible or unlikely

Antonyms

performance
637 2.5

How well a person does a task or job

compliance
171 5.0

Obeying rules or orders from people in charge

Surface Forms

constructive breach singular
constructive breaches plural

Morphology

constructive + breach

A learner who knows 'breach' will recognize this as a type of contract breach, so part of the meaning (that it is a breach) is predictable from the constituents. However, 'constructive' here has a specialized legal sense ('deemed or inferred by law') rather than the common sense of 'helpful' or 'building', so the precise meaning (a breach inferred before performance) is not derivable without prior legal exposure.

Etymology

Constructive breach uses constructive to mean 'made by actions' and breach to mean a 'break' in an agreement. Imagine someone quietly removes the supports of a stage until it cannot hold the show — they never said they would stop the performance, but their actions made it impossible, so the law treats that as a 'breach' before the time to perform.