Where a party has some control over the event which is claimed to frustrate
a contract, it is said to be self-induced, and this will not be allowed as
frustration.
Discharge of a contract 219Tsakiroglou v Noblee Thorl (1962)
The closure of the Suez Canal in 1956 meant that a ship had to take a
longer, more difficult and more expensive journey to deliver a cargo of
goods. The contract to carry the goods was held not to be frustrated, since
the carrier could have planned for the consequences of having to take a
longer route. A clause providing for the eventuality of having to take
a longer route is now usually built into a contract to carry goods by ship.Davis Builders v Fareham UDC (1956)
The builders agreed to build a certain number of houses by a particular
date at a fixed price. Having tendered as low as possible in order to
obtain the contract, they were unable to complete the agreed number of
houses on time because of lack of labour and materials. The contract
was held not to be frustrated, since it could have been completed if
more money had been spent on obtaining materials from another
source and on employing more people.Thames Valley Power v Total Gas(2005)
Total Gas were unsuccessful in claiming that their contract to supply gas
to Thames Valley Power was frustrated, since the basis was a rise in gas
prices. This was merely a less lucrative contract for Total Gas (in fact it
meant that they would lose about £9 million). It is not unlike the two
cases above, but more recent, and therefore the loss seems greater.Maritime National Fish v Ocean Trawlers (1935)
The owner of five trawlers arranged contracts of hire on the boats,
before obtaining the required licences to use them. They were then
only granted three licences, and had to decide on which of the five
trawlers to place the licences. As they had a free choice over whhich
ones to licence, the court held that the contracts on the other two were
breached rather than frustrated. A way of avoiding this would have
been to obtain the licences before forming the contracts. The decision
was confirmed in The Super Servant Two(1990).