Dear Ger & Ors, There's a slight problem here. The mere fact that you performed badly, ie broke your contract in performing, doesn't stop you claiming the price of performance: see cases like Hoenig v Isaacs. The question is whether you have substantially done what you have promised (whether well or not): which means delegation needs to be separately treated. Andrew

In the interesting case Andrew refers to and the hypotheticals he
posits, the key question seemed to be whether there was proper
performance i.e. did the counter-party provide (through a delegate or
otherwise) that which they had promised. So in the solicitor's case,
they had not provided the service promised because the employee was
unqualified and that was in breach of contract. The same point would
arise in the removers example he gives, I think. These are objections
based on a failure to perform properly, rather than an inability to
delegate. Surely, one can only object to delegation where either (i)
one has expressly provided that the work is to be done by a particular
person or class of persons (say solicitors or engineers or senior
counsel of 10 years' standing) or to a particular standard or (ii)
some such restriction is implied because of the nature of the contract
or services in question.

Kind regards

Ger

On 11/17/22, Robert Stevens <robert.stevens@law.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

I don’t think agency can be a complete red herring.

Contracts for the provision of goods and services aren’t (at least
ordinarily) bets about whether someone or other will provide the goods or
services in the future. Rather they’re agreements that one party will
provide those goods and services.

If I employ a builder to repair my bridge, I don’t necessarily expect him to
do the work personally. If the builder is a corporation it will do so
through its employees. Or it may be permissible to sub-contract the work to
somebody to do all or some of it on the builder’s behalf.

But if a stranger subsequently comes along and mistakenly repairs the
bridge, thinking it was theirs, I don’t think the builder has performed and
is thereby entitled to be paid. His obligation to repair the bridge may have
been discharged, but here through frustration (the work no longer needs to
be done) rather than performance.

It is only if the work is done by someone authorised to do it on his behalf
(or who purports to do it on his behalf whose actions are then ratified)
that performance is thereby made.

Performance, as the word implies, requiring some doing either by the
promisor or somebody on his behalf.
Rob

From: Jason W Neyers <jneyers@uwo.ca>
Sent: 17 November 2022 18:45
To: Krish <krishneel@gmail.com>; Stephane.Serafin
<Stephane.Serafin@uottawa.ca>
Cc: a.m.tettenborn <a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk>; obligations
<obligations@uwo.ca>
Subject: RE: ODG: Vicarious Performance in Contract Law

I post on behalf of Steve Hedley:



In principle it must be a matter of interpretation.  For most commercial
goods and services, the natural interpretation will surely be that A is
paying for the goods/services to be provided, and who provides them is
beside the point.  But there would be some cases where the personality
matters; for example, it would surely be implicit in most (?all) employment
contracts that the employee should do the work, not merely that the work
should be done.  There are of course borderline cases, e.g. Boulton v Jones
(1857). ‘Agency’ seems to me to be a red herring in this context.


Steve Hedley

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________________________________


[esig-law]
Jason Neyers
Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
Western University
Law Building Rm 26
e. jneyers@uwo.ca<mailto:jneyers@uwo.ca>
t. 519.661.2111 (x88435)

From: Krish <krishneel@gmail.com<mailto:krishneel@gmail.com>>
Sent: November 17, 2022 1:29 PM
To: Stephane.Serafin
<Stephane.Serafin@uottawa.ca<mailto:Stephane.Serafin@uottawa.ca>>
Cc: a.m.tettenborn
<a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk<mailto:a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk>>; Jason W
Neyers <jneyers@uwo.ca<mailto:jneyers@uwo.ca>>; obligations
<obligations@uwo.ca<mailto:obligations@uwo.ca>>
Subject: Re: ODG: Vicarious Performance in Contract Law

You don't often get email from
krishneel@gmail.com<mailto:krishneel@gmail.com>. Learn why this is
important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification>
I agree with Stéphane, and think it comes down to what exactly is promised.
Is it the result that has been promised, or is it the act/attempt, or both?
If it is only the result that is promised, I can't see any problem in
principle with subcontracting the work out to someone else.

Krish

On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 10:24, Stéphane Sérafin
<Stephane.Serafin@uottawa.ca<mailto:Stephane.Serafin@uottawa.ca>> wrote:
Absent a duty requiring personal service in the contract I don’t really see
what the problem with delegated performance would be. The promisor is bound
to deliver the book, and if the book is not delivered then the promisor is
liable for breach. But if the promisor does deliver the book to the
promisee, even through an intermediary, then the book has been delivered.

Not to go full civilian here but the Civil Code of Québec has an article
that expressly deals with this issue – art. 1555 – and I see no reason to
think that the common law position should be much different.

From: Andrew Tettenborn
<a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk<mailto:a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk>>
Sent: November 17, 2022 1:14 PM
To: Jason W Neyers <jneyers@uwo.ca<mailto:jneyers@uwo.ca>>; obligations
<obligations@uwo.ca<mailto:obligations@uwo.ca>>
Subject: Re: ODG: Vicarious Performance in Contract Law

Attention : courriel externe | external email

There certainly are some cases where subcontracting has deprived a claimant
of the right to the price. A nice one is the solicitors' case of Pearless de
Rougemont & Co v Pilbrow [1999] 3 All E.R. 355, where a law firm delegated a
job in breach of contract to an unqualified employee: the court was clear
that however well the latter actually did the job the firm hadn't rendered
contractual performance and couldn't claim their fee. -Andrew


On 17/11/2022 17:14, Jason W Neyers wrote:
Dear Colleagues:

Suppose that A wants to ship something (a book) from Toronto to X in another
location. A contracts with B Ltd. to do the shipping. The book arrives and X
takes possession. It turns out that as a matter of fact B Ltd. did not do
the shipping (or all of the shipping) but instead that other contractors
did. Can A sue for breach? Can A refuse to pay the contract price if it is
demanded by B Ltd? Why is the answer to these questions generally no? Is it
just a question of contract interpretation or is there some legal
recognition that B Ltd actually performed the contract through the “agency”
of the other contractors, who performed on B Ltd’s behalf?

If anyone has any views on this or knows of any good discussions in caselaw,
article or textbooks, I would be delighted to be pointed in the right
direction.

Sincerely,


[esig-law]
Jason Neyers
Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
Western University
Law Building Rm 26
e. jneyers@uwo.ca<mailto:jneyers@uwo.ca>
t. 519.661.2111 (x88435)




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