The Law of Contract Damages 4th Edition

Written by leading commercial law barrister and academic, Adam Kramer KC, this work, now in its 4th edition, has established itself as a leading practitioner text on the topic of damages in contract law and commercial disputes and is regularly referred to and cited in and by courts.

Part II is structured according to the type of breach of obligation, such as service obligations (includes commercial services, and also employment) loss of use of money, providing detailed analysis facilitating the read across from cases outside the particular practice area (most commodities lawyers don’t know landlord and tenant cases, most professional negligence lawyers don’t know employment cases, etc). It can be used by those in a particular area (construction, sale of goods, financial disputes) whilst also providing cases and answers outside the specialist works on those areas.

Part III deals with factual causation and actual loss.

Principles of remoteness, mitigation and legal causation are dealt with in Part IV, with Chapter 18 on causation in practice uniquely structured in categorising cases on breaks in the chain of causation by the type of event (e.g. claimant speculation, post-breach dealings with defendants, receipt of benefits from third parties).

Particular types of loss requiring separate examination are dealt with in Part V whilst other matters such as third parties and loss; negotiating damages; non-compensatory damages, concurrent claims and exclusion clauses are discussed within Part VI.

Features

• Very detailed case law coverage and very practical in approach.
• Focuses on English and Welsh law but with substantial coverage of other Common Law decisions
• Comprehensive, covering both practical concerns/dispute patterns and academic debate
• To aid understanding and practicality, the book is arranged by the type of complaint (eg mis-provision of services, non-payment of money or the temporary loss of use of property etc)
• In addressing causation, it divides relevant cases and rules between the breach position (what actually happened and what will happen) and non-breach position (what would or might have happened but for the breach, including loss of chance)
• When considering remoteness, mitigation and legal causation, cases are analysed and categorised on breaks in the chain of causation by type of event (eg failing to avoid the danger; failure to terminate the contract etc)
• Cases from all contractual fields are considered, not only those usually referred to (construction, sale of goods, charter parties; professional services) but also those less frequently covered in general works (such as SPAs, banking contracts, breach of exclusive jurisdiction clauses, insurance and landlord and tenant)
• Tort decisions are referred to where relevant, including full coverage of professional negligence damages
• Detailed explanation of many practically important but often neglected areas, such as damages for lost management time, whether hedging costs are recoverable, and the how to prove lost profits

What's New

The text has been reviewed and fully updated to take account of important case law developments, in particular:

• Barrowfen Properties v Patel (2025, Court of Appeal, causation and loss of chance)
• BP Oil International Ltd v Glencore Energy UK Ltd (2023, High Court, sale of goods)
• Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd (2024, High Court of Australia, presumption of breaking even and lack of reliance measure)
• EE Ltd v Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd (2023, High Court, exclusion clauses)
• Elisha v Vision Australia Ltd (2024, High Court of Australia, psychiatric injury)
• Hapag Lloyd v Skyros (2024, High Court, remoteness and causation)
• Mackenzie v AA Ltd (2022, Court of Appeal, minimum obligation rule)
• Pinewood Technologies Asia Pacific Ltd (2023, High Court, exclusion clauses)
• Rhine Shipping DMCC v Vitol SA (2024, Court of Appeal, hedging costs)
• Sharp Corp Ltd v Viterra BV (2024, Supreme Court, mitigation and the sale of goods market measure), and more recently
• URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd (2025, Supreme Court, on mitigation, intervening acts and legal causation)

In addition, the author has made significant and substantive changes discussing and clarifying a number of developing areas of the law and provided structural changes to the text for ease of navigation. A large chapter on property-related complaints (in sale of goods, construction disputes etc) has been split into three smaller chapters on, respectively, non-delivery and destruction (chapter 4); defects, damage and mis-construction (chapter 5); and valuing loss in property cases where replacement and repair do not govern (chapter 6).