References: [1977] 2 NSWLR 264
Coram: Mahoney JA, Street CJ
Ratio: New South Wales – an election to terminate must generally occur within a reasonable time of the discovery of the circumstances giving rise to the right. If the lessee of a flat, on learning of the lessor’s breach, communicated to the lessor that he or she desired to consider his or her position, and in the meantime continued to occupy the flat and ride up and down in the lift, the lessee may not be found to have affirmed the contract (at least until a reasonable time had passed) even though the right to occupy and ride arose only by virtue of the lease.
Glass JA said: ‘To impose the further requirement that the donee [of a legal right] must be actuated by a legitimate purpose, thus forcing a judicial trek through the quagmire of mixed motives would be, in my opinion, a dangerous and needless innovation.’
Jurisdiction: Australia
Last Update: 03-Jan-18
Ref: 602120
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