English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countrie ...

, an innominate term is an intermediate term which cannot be defined as either a "condition" or a "

warranty In contract law, a warranty is a promise which is not a condition of the contract or an innominate term: (1) it is a term "not going to the root of the contract",Hogg M. (2011). ''Promises and Contract Law: Comparative Perspectives''p. 48 Cambri ...

". In '' Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd'' (1962 2 QB 26) the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

first conceived the notion of an "innominate term". This was followed in the case of The Mihalis Angelos (1971 1 QB 174).

Importance

The classification of terms is fundamental in contract law as it affects the legal rights of a party in the event of a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...

. Innominate terms of contracts are one of the three categories of terms of contract, the others being warranties and conditions. The creation of this innominate category of terms (also known as "intermediate") is associated with the analysis of Diplock LJ in the case ''Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd'' (1962), and is credited with the introduction of innominate terms in Hong Kong Fir. The judge does not however refer to this type of term as "innominate" or "intermediate" anywhere in the judgment. The word "innominate" was coined in Stephenson LJ in ''Wickman Machine Tool Sales Ltd v L Schuler A.G.''

972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...

1 WLR 840. It is the legal principle and reasoning in ''Hong Kong Fir'' which gives the case its fundamental importance in contract law, rather than facts of the case. The background of the facts is of little relative importance. The case is that it establishes the legal test applied to decide whether a party to a contract is in repudiatory breach of contract, or not. That significance of that test is that w