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Table of Contents
Specific Performance as a Contract Remedy
When one party breaches a contract, the most familiar remedy is money damages. A court calculates the injured party’s legally recoverable loss and orders the breaching party to pay.
But money is not always enough.
Sometimes the thing promised under the contract is so unique, difficult to replace, or difficult to value that financial compensation cannot adequately repair the harm. In those circumstances, a court may order the breaching party to actually perform the contractual obligation.
This remedy is known as specific performance.
Specific performance is an equitable remedy. Rather than simply ordering the payment of money, the court orders a party to do what it promised to do under the contract.
For example, suppose a buyer enters into a contract to purchase a particular piece of real estate. The seller later refuses to complete the transaction because the property’s value has increased.
Money damages might compensate the buyer in some circumstances. But if the property is unique and cannot reasonably be replaced, a court may consider ordering the seller to convey the property as originally promised.
Specific performance therefore reflects an important principle:
When money cannot adequately compensate the injured party, the law may require actual performance of the bargain.
What Is Specific Performance?
Specific performance is a court order requiring a party to perform its contractual obligations.
It differs from ordinary damages in a fundamental way.
Damages say:
You breached the contract, so you must pay compensation for the resulting legally recoverable loss.
Specific performance says:
You breached the contract, so you must do what you promised to do.
The remedy is therefore performance-oriented rather than primarily compensatory.
Specific performance is traditionally associated with equity, meaning that courts exercise discretion rather than granting the remedy automatically whenever a contract has been breached.
Why Is Specific Performance an Exceptional Remedy?
Contract law generally prefers monetary damages.
There are several reasons.
First, money is usually easier for courts to administer.
Second, damages allow the injured party to obtain an economic substitute for the promised performance.
Third, forcing parties to continue performing a relationship may be impractical.
Fourth, courts generally do not want to supervise contractual relationships indefinitely.
For these reasons, specific performance is generally considered an extraordinary or exceptional remedy.
The injured party normally must show something more than the simple existence of a valid contract and breach.
The central question is usually:
Are monetary damages an adequate remedy?
If money can fairly compensate the injured party, specific performance may be unnecessary.
If money cannot adequately compensate the loss, equitable relief becomes more plausible.
The Adequacy of Monetary Damages
The concept of adequacy of damages is at the heart of specific performance.
Suppose A agrees to sell B a standard laptop for $1,000.
A breaches.
B can purchase an essentially identical laptop elsewhere for $1,000.
There is little reason for a court to order A to deliver the original laptop. Money damages or a substitute purchase can adequately address the injury.
Now change the facts.
A agrees to sell B a unique piece of real estate with unusual historical or personal significance.
A breaches.
B cannot simply purchase an identical property elsewhere.
Money may not provide an adequate substitute.
The case for specific performance becomes substantially stronger.
Thus:
Ordinary goods → damages often adequate.
Unique property → specific performance may be appropriate.
Real Property and Specific Performance
Real estate has traditionally occupied a special position in specific-performance doctrine.
Land is considered unique in a way that ordinary personal property generally is not.
There is only one particular parcel at a particular location.
A buyer who contracts to purchase a specific property cannot necessarily replace it by purchasing another property.
This traditional uniqueness principle helps explain why specific performance is frequently associated with real estate contracts.
For example:
A buyer agrees to purchase a particular historic building.
Before closing, the seller receives a higher offer and refuses to sell.
The buyer may seek specific performance requiring the seller to complete the agreed sale.
Whether the remedy is granted depends on the applicable law and circumstances, but the uniqueness of the property can make monetary damages inadequate.
Specific Performance and Unique Personal Property
Specific performance is not limited to real estate.
Certain items of personal property may also be sufficiently unique to justify equitable relief.
Examples might include:
- rare works of art;
- unique collectibles;
- irreplaceable antiques;
- scarce historical objects;
- unusual goods unavailable elsewhere; or
- goods subject to a genuine market shortage.
The relevant question is not simply whether the item is expensive.
An expensive item may still be readily replaceable.
The issue is whether a reasonable substitute exists.
Expensive Does Not Mean Unique
This distinction is important.
Suppose a buyer contracts to purchase a luxury automobile.
The vehicle costs $150,000.
The seller breaches.
The fact that the automobile is expensive does not automatically make specific performance appropriate.
If the buyer can purchase the same model, or a reasonably equivalent vehicle, on the market, monetary damages may be adequate.
By contrast, if the contract concerns a one-of-a-kind automobile with unique historical significance, specific performance becomes more plausible.
The question is substitutability, not simply price.
The Uniqueness Principle
The traditional doctrine can therefore be summarized through the concept of uniqueness.
Specific performance is more likely when the promised subject matter cannot reasonably be obtained elsewhere.
Uniqueness can arise from:
- scarcity;
- location;
- historical significance;
- sentimental characteristics;
- artistic qualities;
- personal characteristics;
- limited market availability; or
- other circumstances that make substitution impractical.
The law does not require the object to be literally one-of-a-kind in every case.
The broader question is whether monetary damages and substitute performance would adequately protect the injured party’s contractual interest.
Specific Performance and UCC Article 2
The Uniform Commercial Code expressly addresses specific performance in contracts for the sale of goods.
Under UCC § 2-716, specific performance may be ordered where the goods are unique or in other proper circumstances.
This is significant because traditional common-law doctrine historically treated personal property as less suitable for specific performance than land.
The UCC recognizes that some goods can be sufficiently difficult to obtain that damages are inadequate.
For example, if a buyer contracts to purchase a rare machine that is essential to its operations and no reasonable substitute is available, specific performance may be appropriate.
The UCC therefore provides a more flexible framework for unique or otherwise difficult-to-replace goods.
“In Other Proper Circumstances”
The UCC’s language is important.
Specific performance under Article 2 is not limited to objects that are literally unique.
Other circumstances may justify equitable relief.
For example, a buyer may be unable to obtain substitute goods because:
- the market is severely constrained;
- the goods are needed for a specialized purpose;
- replacement goods are unavailable;
- the goods have unusual characteristics; or
- obtaining substitutes would not adequately protect the buyer’s contractual interest.
The statute therefore recognizes that practical scarcity can sometimes matter as much as literal uniqueness.
The Buyer’s Right of Replevin
UCC § 2-716 also addresses the buyer’s ability to obtain goods through replevin in appropriate circumstances.
Replevin is a legal remedy allowing a party entitled to possession of particular property to recover that property.
In the context of a sales contract, it can provide a mechanism for obtaining specifically identified goods when ordinary damages are inadequate.
This demonstrates how modern commercial law can combine traditional equitable concepts with more specific statutory remedies.
Specific Performance Is Not a Reward for the Plaintiff
An important misconception is that specific performance is simply a more powerful form of damages.
It is not.
Because it is an equitable remedy, the court considers whether granting the order would be appropriate in the circumstances.
The plaintiff must generally demonstrate that equitable relief is justified.
Factors can include:
- the adequacy of monetary damages;
- the uniqueness of the subject matter;
- the feasibility of enforcement;
- the terms of the contract;
- the plaintiff’s own conduct;
- fairness between the parties;
- hardship;
- public policy; and
- whether the requested order would require excessive judicial supervision.
Specific performance therefore involves both contractual rights and equitable considerations.
The Plaintiff Must Have an Enforceable Contract
Specific performance generally presupposes an enforceable contractual obligation.
The plaintiff ordinarily must establish the relevant elements of the contract and the defendant’s breach.
Problems concerning:
- offer and acceptance;
- consideration;
- capacity;
- fraud;
- duress;
- mistake;
- illegality;
- unconscionability;
- indefiniteness; or
- other enforceability issues
may prevent the plaintiff from obtaining specific performance.
Equity does not normally create a contractual obligation where none exists.
Mutuality and Specific Performance
Historically, courts sometimes discussed the concept of mutuality of remedy.
The basic idea was that if one party could obtain specific performance, the other party should also have an equivalent remedy.
Modern law has generally moved away from treating mutuality as an automatic prerequisite.
Instead, courts tend to focus more directly on whether specific performance is appropriate under the circumstances.
Nevertheless, the enforceability of the parties’ respective obligations remains relevant.
A court is unlikely to order a highly specific performance obligation where the underlying contractual relationship is itself fundamentally uncertain or unenforceable.
The Plaintiff Must Usually Have Performed or Be Ready to Perform
Equitable remedies are closely connected with the principle that a person seeking equity should generally be prepared to fulfill their own obligations.
This is sometimes expressed through the concept of being ready, willing, and able to perform.
Suppose a buyer seeks an order requiring the seller to convey property.
The buyer may need to demonstrate that the buyer is prepared to pay the agreed purchase price.
A plaintiff who has itself materially failed to perform may have difficulty persuading a court to exercise equitable discretion in its favor.
This principle prevents one party from demanding extraordinary relief while refusing to honor its own contractual obligations.
The Clean Hands Doctrine
Another equitable principle is the clean hands doctrine.
A party seeking equitable relief generally should not have engaged in serious misconduct related to the transaction.
For example, if a plaintiff obtained the contract through fraud and then asks a court to compel the defendant to perform it, the plaintiff’s own conduct may affect the availability of specific performance.
The doctrine does not mean that every minor imperfection defeats equitable relief.
It reflects a broader principle:
A party seeking extraordinary equitable assistance should generally act fairly in relation to the dispute.
Specific Performance and Fairness
Courts also consider whether enforcing the contract through specific performance would produce an inequitable result.
Suppose circumstances have changed dramatically since the contract was formed.
An order compelling performance may create extraordinary hardship that the parties could not reasonably have anticipated.
Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, that hardship may influence the court’s equitable analysis.
Specific performance is therefore not simply a mechanical consequence of proving breach.
The court must consider the practical and equitable consequences of the order.
Hardship to the Defendant
The potential hardship imposed on the breaching party can be relevant.
Imagine that a contract requires the delivery of a particular item.
After the contract is formed, the item becomes extraordinarily difficult to obtain.
Ordering the defendant to locate and deliver it could impose an enormous burden.
The court may consider whether that burden makes specific performance inequitable.
This does not mean that a defendant can escape a contract merely because performance has become inconvenient.
The issue is whether enforcing specific performance would be excessively harsh or otherwise inappropriate under equitable principles.
Specific Performance and Personal Services
Courts are generally reluctant to order specific performance of personal service contracts.
For example, a court ordinarily will not force an employee to work for an employer or force an artist to perform for a particular employer.
There are several reasons.
Personal services involve ongoing human relationships.
Compelled performance can create serious practical and ethical problems.
Courts would also have difficulty supervising whether a person is genuinely performing their services with the required quality, enthusiasm, or cooperation.
For these reasons, money damages are generally preferred for breaches of personal-service agreements.
The Thirteenth Amendment and Involuntary Labor
There is also a deeper legal reason for caution concerning compelled personal services.
The enforcement of personal-service obligations can raise constitutional and public-policy concerns relating to involuntary servitude.
American law therefore strongly disfavors judicial orders effectively forcing a person to continue working for another.
Instead, courts generally rely on monetary damages and, in some circumstances, negative injunctions or other carefully limited remedies.
The important distinction is between requiring someone to perform personal services and ordering someone to perform an objective contractual act, such as transferring property.
Negative Injunctions
Although courts generally do not compel personal services, they may in appropriate circumstances issue a negative injunction.
A negative injunction prohibits a party from doing something rather than ordering that party to perform a particular service.
For example, an agreement may contain an enforceable exclusivity provision.
A court might, under appropriate circumstances, prohibit a party from performing the same services for a direct competitor rather than order the party to work for the original contracting party.
Such cases are highly fact-specific.
Courts must also consider whether the injunction effectively accomplishes the same coercive result as an order of specific performance.
Specific Performance and Contractual Obligations That Require Ongoing Supervision
Courts are also cautious about ordering specific performance where enforcement would require continuous judicial supervision.
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Imagine a contract requiring a company to provide complex services for ten years.
If enforcing the agreement would require a judge to monitor every aspect of the company’s performance, specific performance may be impractical.
Courts generally prefer remedies that can be clearly stated and enforced without ongoing involvement in the parties’ relationship.
A one-time transfer of property is easier to supervise than years of detailed personal or commercial performance.
Specific Performance and Definite Contractual Terms
A court needs to know what it is ordering.
If the contract is vague or indefinite, specific performance becomes difficult.
For example, suppose a contract states that a party must provide “reasonable support” for an unspecified period without defining what the obligation requires.
A court may struggle to formulate a precise order.
By contrast, an agreement requiring the seller to transfer a specifically identified parcel of land is comparatively straightforward.
Specific performance therefore works best when the contractual obligation is sufficiently definite to translate into a judicial order.
Specific Performance and Conditions
Conditions in the contract can also affect equitable relief.
Suppose the seller’s obligation to convey property arises only if the buyer first obtains specified financing.
If that condition has not occurred, the buyer may not yet have an enforceable right to demand conveyance.
Specific performance cannot ordinarily be used to bypass a valid contractual condition.
The court must first determine whether the plaintiff’s contractual right to performance has actually matured.
Specific Performance and Anticipatory Breach
Specific performance can also arise in cases involving anticipatory repudiation.
Suppose a seller informs a buyer before closing that the seller will not complete the agreed sale of a unique property.
The buyer may seek equitable relief before the scheduled performance date, depending on the applicable law and procedural circumstances.
The interaction between anticipatory breach and specific performance illustrates an important point:
The remedy is concerned not merely with compensating a completed injury but with protecting the contractual right to receive the promised performance.
Specific Performance and Mitigation
Specific performance also interacts with the concept of mitigation.
A plaintiff seeking damages must generally take reasonable steps to avoid or reduce losses.
But if the plaintiff seeks specific performance, the central question becomes whether monetary damages are adequate in the first place.
The doctrines therefore approach the problem from different directions.
Mitigation asks:
Could the plaintiff reasonably reduce the financial consequences of the breach?
Specific performance asks:
Would money adequately substitute for the promised performance?
Both doctrines help define the appropriate remedy, but they address different aspects of the dispute.
Specific Performance and Liquidated Damages
A contract may contain both a liquidated damages clause and provisions concerning performance.
This can create difficult questions.
Suppose the parties agree that a seller will pay $100,000 for failure to transfer certain property.
If the buyer later seeks specific performance instead, the court may need to determine what the contract and governing law permit.
A valid liquidated damages provision may provide evidence that the parties regarded monetary compensation as an adequate contractual remedy.
But it does not necessarily answer every question concerning equitable relief.
The interaction depends on the language of the agreement and applicable law.
Specific Performance vs. Damages
The distinction can be summarized:
| Specific Performance | Damages |
|---|---|
| Orders actual contractual performance | Awards money |
| Equitable remedy | Primarily legal/compensatory remedy |
| Generally exceptional | Generally the ordinary remedy |
| Often appropriate for unique property | Often appropriate where substitutes are available |
| Requires judicial discretion | Usually based on established damages rules |
| Can require ongoing compliance | Usually requires payment of a determined amount |
The choice between the two depends on the nature of the breach and the adequacy of monetary compensation.
An Example: Sale of Ordinary Goods
A retailer agrees to purchase 1,000 ordinary chairs from a manufacturer.
The manufacturer breaches.
The retailer can purchase identical chairs from another supplier at essentially the same market price.
Specific performance is unlikely to be necessary.
Money damages can adequately compensate the retailer for any legally recoverable difference in price and associated losses.
The goods are replaceable.
An Example: Sale of Unique Property
Now suppose a buyer agrees to purchase a particular historic building.
The seller later refuses to sell because another buyer offers a higher price.
The buyer cannot purchase an identical building because the property itself is unique.
If the buyer can establish an enforceable contract and the other requirements for equitable relief are satisfied, specific performance may be appropriate.
The buyer wants the property promised by the contract, not merely its approximate financial value.
An Example: Rare Goods
Suppose a museum agrees to purchase a rare historical artifact from a private collector.
The collector later refuses to deliver it.
The museum cannot find another comparable artifact on the market.
Ordinary damages may be difficult to calculate because the artifact has unique historical and cultural significance.
The uniqueness of the object and the lack of an adequate substitute could support specific performance.
Again, the final determination depends on the applicable law and circumstances.
An Example: Personal Services
Suppose a singer signs a contract to perform exclusively for a particular entertainment company.
The singer later breaches.
The company asks a court to order the singer to perform.
Specific performance is generally disfavored in this context because the contract involves personal services and an ongoing human relationship.
The company may instead pursue monetary damages or another appropriate remedy.
The law distinguishes between enforcing a property transfer and compelling personal labor.
Specific Performance and Public Policy
Courts may refuse equitable relief when enforcement would conflict with public policy.
This can arise where the contractual obligation itself is unlawful, oppressive, or inconsistent with important legal principles.
Specific performance cannot ordinarily be used to force a party to perform an illegal act.
The underlying contract must therefore be examined before equitable relief is considered.
Specific Performance and Third Parties
Specific performance can become more complicated when third-party rights are involved.
Suppose a seller contracts to sell property to A but later transfers the property to B.
B may have acquired rights that complicate the original buyer’s claim.
Questions concerning:
- notice;
- good-faith purchasers;
- recording statutes;
- priority;
- equitable defenses; and
- third-party rights
may become relevant.
Specific performance therefore does not operate in isolation from property and commercial law.
Specific Performance Is Not the Same as Injunctive Relief
Specific performance and injunctions are both equitable remedies, but they are not identical.
Specific performance generally orders a party to perform a contractual obligation.
An injunction generally orders a party to refrain from doing something or, in some contexts, take a specified action.
For example:
- “Transfer the property to the buyer” may be specific performance.
- “Do not sell the property to another buyer” may be injunctive relief.
The remedies can overlap in practical effect, but their doctrinal foundations differ.
Specific Performance and Rescission
Specific performance should also be distinguished from rescission.
Specific performance seeks to enforce the bargain.
Rescission seeks, in appropriate circumstances, to unwind the transaction.
They therefore move in opposite directions.
If a buyer wants the property promised under the contract, the buyer may seek specific performance.
If the buyer wants to undo the contract because of fraud or another recognized basis, rescission may be appropriate.
The available remedy depends on what the law permits and what the injured party seeks to accomplish.
Specific Performance and Reformation
Reformation is another distinct equitable remedy.
Reformation allows a court, in appropriate circumstances, to correct the written expression of an agreement so that it reflects the parties’ actual agreement.
Specific performance, by contrast, enforces the contractual obligation as legally established.
For example:
- Reformation: “Correct the written contract.”
- Specific performance: “Perform the contract.”
- Rescission: “Undo the contract.”
- Damages: “Pay compensation for the breach.”
These remedies address different problems.
The Equitable Nature of Specific Performance
The equitable character of specific performance explains why courts retain discretion.
The plaintiff may establish:
- a valid contract;
- a breach;
- and a significant loss,
yet still not automatically receive specific performance.
The court must determine whether the remedy is appropriate.
Equity traditionally asks whether the circumstances justify intervention beyond ordinary legal remedies.
This makes specific performance more flexible than a simple damages calculation, but also less predictable.
A Practical Analytical Framework
When analyzing whether specific performance may be available, ask the following questions.
1. Is there an enforceable contract?
Establish the existence and validity of the agreement.
2. Did the defendant breach?
Identify the contractual obligation that was not performed.
3. What exactly was promised?
Determine the subject matter and scope of the obligation.
4. Are monetary damages adequate?
This is usually the central question.
5. Is the subject matter unique?
Consider real property, rare goods, scarcity, location, or other characteristics.
6. Is there a reasonable substitute?
If the injured party can obtain an equivalent substitute, damages may be adequate.
7. Is the contractual obligation sufficiently definite?
A court must be able to formulate an enforceable order.
8. Is specific performance practically enforceable?
Consider whether the order would require continuing judicial supervision.
9. Has the plaintiff performed or is the plaintiff ready to perform?
Equitable relief generally requires the plaintiff to have acted consistently with its own contractual obligations.
10. Are there equitable defenses?
Consider hardship, clean hands, public policy, delay, third-party rights, and other applicable defenses.
11. Does a statute such as UCC Article 2 apply?
The governing legal regime can materially affect the analysis.
12. What remedy best protects the contractual interest?
Determine whether damages, specific performance, injunction, rescission, restitution, or another remedy is appropriate.
The Deeper Principle: Sometimes the Bargain Itself Matters
Specific performance reveals something important about contract law.
Contracts are often treated as economic exchanges that can be translated into monetary values.
But not every contractual interest is perfectly reducible to money.
A particular piece of land cannot necessarily be replaced.
A unique artwork cannot necessarily be replicated.
A rare machine may not be obtainable elsewhere.
A historical object may have significance that is impossible to capture precisely in dollars.
In such cases, the injured party may care not merely about receiving the value of the promised performance but about receiving the performance itself.
Specific performance recognizes that distinction.
The Limits of Contractual Freedom
Specific performance also illustrates the limits of judicial enforcement.
A court can order someone to transfer property.
It is much harder to order someone to perform years of personal services with genuine commitment and quality.
The law therefore distinguishes between obligations that can be objectively performed and obligations that depend heavily on personal relationships and ongoing human judgment.
This is not merely a technical procedural distinction.
It reflects the practical limits of judicial power.
Courts can enforce legal obligations, but they cannot easily manufacture genuine cooperation.
Why Specific Performance Matters
Specific performance occupies an unusual position in contract law.
The basic rule is straightforward:
Breach ordinarily leads to damages.
But contracts sometimes involve interests that money cannot adequately replace.
In those cases, the law may protect the bargain by ordering actual performance.
The remedy is therefore neither automatic nor purely punitive.
It is an equitable response to a particular kind of inadequacy: the inadequacy of money as a substitute for the promised performance.
The doctrine ultimately reflects a simple but powerful idea:
When the thing promised is sufficiently unique and damages cannot adequately compensate the injured party, enforcing the promise itself may be the fairest remedy.
Key Takeaways
- Specific performance is a court order requiring a breaching party to perform its contractual obligation.
- It is traditionally an equitable remedy and is generally exceptional rather than automatic.
- The central question is whether monetary damages are adequate.
- Specific performance is particularly associated with real property because land is traditionally considered unique.
- Certain goods may also justify specific performance when they are unique, scarce, or otherwise difficult to replace.
- UCC § 2-716 permits specific performance for unique goods and in other proper circumstances.
- The fact that an item is expensive does not necessarily make it unique.
- Courts consider whether a reasonable substitute is available.
- Specific performance is generally disfavored for personal-service contracts.
- Courts may refuse relief where enforcement would impose excessive hardship or require continuous judicial supervision.
- The plaintiff generally must establish an enforceable contract and breach.
- Equitable principles such as clean hands, readiness to perform, fairness, and consideration of hardship may affect the remedy.
- Specific performance differs from damages, injunctions, rescission, and reformation.
- The remedy is particularly valuable where the injured party wants the promised performance itself rather than its monetary equivalent.
- The central principle is that money is normally the remedy, but actual performance may be required when money cannot adequately substitute for the bargain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is specific performance in contract law?
Specific performance is a court-ordered remedy requiring a party that breached a contract to perform the obligation it originally promised to perform.
Is specific performance the normal remedy for breach of contract?
No. Monetary damages are generally the ordinary remedy. Specific performance is an exceptional equitable remedy used when damages are inadequate.
When is specific performance most likely to be granted?
It is most likely when the subject matter of the contract is unique or difficult to replace and monetary damages would not adequately compensate the injured party.
Why is specific performance common in real estate disputes?
Land is traditionally considered unique because a particular parcel cannot simply be replaced with an identical parcel elsewhere.
Can specific performance apply to personal property?
Yes. Unique or difficult-to-replace goods may justify specific performance. UCC § 2-716 specifically permits the remedy for unique goods and in other proper circumstances.
Can a court force someone to perform a personal-service contract?
Generally, courts are reluctant to order specific performance of personal services because compelled labor is difficult to supervise and can raise serious practical and public-policy concerns.
Does an expensive item automatically qualify as unique?
No. An expensive item may still be readily available on the market. The important question is whether a reasonable substitute exists.
Does the plaintiff have to perform its own obligations?
Generally, a plaintiff seeking equitable relief must have performed or be ready and willing to perform its own contractual obligations, subject to the applicable law and circumstances.
What is the difference between specific performance and damages?
Damages compensate the injured party with money. Specific performance orders the breaching party to perform the contractual obligation itself.
What is the difference between specific performance and an injunction?
Specific performance generally orders a party to perform a contractual obligation. An injunction generally prohibits conduct or, in some circumstances, requires specified action.
Can a court refuse specific performance even when a contract was breached?
Yes. Because specific performance is equitable, the court considers whether monetary damages are adequate and whether equitable relief is appropriate under the circumstances.
Can hardship prevent specific performance?
Potentially. A court may consider whether enforcing specific performance would impose excessive or inequitable hardship, although the effect depends on the applicable law and facts.
What does UCC § 2-716 provide?
UCC § 2-716 permits specific performance for unique goods and in other proper circumstances, recognizing that some sales cannot be adequately remedied through ordinary monetary damages.
What is the central idea behind specific performance?
The central idea is that some contractual interests cannot be adequately replaced with money. When the promised performance is sufficiently unique and damages are inadequate, the court may enforce the bargain itself.
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The information provided in this article ("Specific Performance as a Contract Remedy") is for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by jurisdiction; consult a licensed attorney for specific legal matters.
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