[1][2] A party is considered to have repudiated a contract when they evidence a lack of willingness or an inability to perform their contractual obligations.
Another rationale for the doctrine of repudiation is based on the breach of an implied term not rendering future performance futile: "[O]ne essential promise which is implied in every contract is that neither party will without just cause repudiate his obligations under the contract, whether the time for performance has arrived or not.
The Privy Council ruled in 1966 that a party who asserts "a genuinely held but erroneous view as to the effect of the contract" should not be treated as in repudiation, but in the case of Vaswani v Italian Motors, a car seller's conduct went beyond mere assertion of such an opinion, and in demanding more money for a sale than the agreed price, and in forcing the intending buyer into loss of his deposit, the conduct was held to be repudiatory.
If such reasonable assurances are not given, it will constitute anticipatory repudiation, for which the performing party has various remedies, including termination.
However, anticipatory repudiation only applies to a bilateral executory contract with non-performed duties on both sides.