Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act
Though this chapter is devoted to an examination of the common law rules, it is nonetheless convenient here to note the provisions of the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943, which can be applied to permit an employee to recover a "just" amount reckoned to correspond to the value of services given by him prior to the contract becoming frustrated. Normally when a contract is frustrated (see Chap. 6) all contractual obligations come to an end; and it was originally the law that where services had not been paid for prior to the frustrating event (such as the destruction of premises), there was no contractual remedy available to the person deprived of his earnings for the period before the contract ended. Due to the injustice which this rule caused during the last war, the 1943 statute was passed, mainly, it is true, to protect commercial transactions, but it can also be applied in the case of employment contracts.