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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics pp 1–5Cite as

Impracticability

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Abstract

The principle of pacta sund servanda requires that agreements must be kept. However such rule is not absolute. When performance of a contractual obligation becomes impracticable, i.e., considerably more burdensome (expensive) than originally contemplated –albeit physically possible- due to an unexpected event, this would lead to adaptation of the contract to the changed circumstances or to avoidance of the contract. In the law and economics literature, impracticability has been substantially studied to figure out who should bear the risk of impracticability; and what would be the efficient remedy for such breach of contract.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Bilkent University, 06800, Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey

    Hüseyin Can Aksoy

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  1. Hüseyin Can Aksoy
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Correspondence to Hüseyin Can Aksoy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrst. Finanzwissenschaft/ Finanzsoziologie, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Thüringen, Germany

    Jürgen Backhaus

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Aksoy, H.C. (2014). Impracticability. In: Backhaus, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_244-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_244-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Impracticability
    Published:
    05 October 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_244-2

  2. Original

    Impracticability
    Published:
    23 August 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_244-1

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