If a contract is silent on force majeure or if the event does not meet the definition of force majeure under the parties' contract, a party's performance may still be excused in certain circumstances under the doctrine of commercial impracticability.
A "force majeure" clause (French for "superior force") is a contract provision that relieves the parties from performing their contractual obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise, making performance inadvisable, commercially impracticable, illegal, or impossible.
Either Party shall be excused from performance and shall not be in default in respect of any obligation hereunder to the extent that the failure to perform such obligation is due to a Natural Force Majeure Event.
Commonly referred to as “acts of God”, force majeure events are unforeseeable, exceptional or out with the control of contracting parties. Examples include natural disaster, terrorism, industrial strike action, fire and pandemic/epidemic events such as Covid-19.
Exhaustive, of examples of force majeure events. Force majeure events generally can be divided into two basic groups: natural events and political events. These may include earthquakes, floods, fire, plague, Acts of God (as defined in the contract or in applicable law) and other natural disasters.
In the construction industry, force majeure is a term used to describe insurmountable problems that can affect the completion of your project and the terms of the contract. Another way you may have heard of this is “Acts of God” or “Natural Disasters” when it comes to different types of insurance.
Clause 19.1 defines a force majeure event as one: which is beyond a Party's control, which such Party could not reasonably have provided against before entering into the Contract, which, having arisen, such Party could not reasonably have avoided or overcome, and.