Supervening Death, Destruction, or Illegality

In May 1861, plaintiffs S. Denis Taylor and Lewis entered into a written agreement with defendants J. Caldwell and Chas. Bishop for the use of the Surrey Gardens and Music Hall in Newington, Surrey. The agreement, dated 27 May 1861, provided that the defendants would let and the plaintiffs would take the premises on four dates—17 June, 15 July, 5 August, and 19 August 1861—for the purpose of presenting a series of grand concerts and day and night fetes. The plaintiffs agreed to pay the defendants £100 for each day of use. The contract detailed the respective obligations of the parties. The defendants were to provide at their own expense an efficient military and quadrille band, al fresco entertainments, fireworks, illuminations, ballet performances, tight rope acts, Chinese and Parisian games, boats on the lake, and aquatic sports, while the plaintiffs were to supply the concert artistes, including Mr. Sims Reeves, and to receive all entrance monies. Payment was to be made by crossed cheque on the evening of each event, and the agreement included the phrase 'God's will permitting' in connection with the plaintiffs' obligations regarding the artistes. On 11 June 1861, the Music Hall was destroyed by an accidental fire. The fire occurred without the fault of either party and rendered it impossible to hold the planned concerts and fetes on the scheduled dates. The plaintiffs commenced an action against the defendants for breach of the agreement, claiming damages for monies expended and other injuries resulting from the defendants' refusal to allow use of the premises. At a trial before Blackburn J. at the London sittings after Michaelmas Term 1861, a verdict was returned for the plaintiffs, with leave reserved to enter a verdict for the defendants on the second and third issues. In Hilary Term 1862, the defendants obtained a rule to enter a verdict in their favor generally, and the rule was argued before Cockburn C.J., Wightman, Crompton and Blackburn JJ. in Hilary Term 1863.

The Blaisdells executed a mortgage on their property in Minneapolis to the Home Building & Loan Association on August 1, 1928. The mortgage contained a valid power of sale by advertisement. After default, the mortgage was foreclosed and the property sold to the Association on May 2, 1932, for $3700.98. The period of redemption under the law then in effect was set to expire on May 2, 1933. On April 18, 1933, Minnesota enacted Chapter 339 of the Laws of 1933, known as the Mortgage Moratorium Law. The statute authorized district courts to extend the period of redemption from foreclosure sales for such additional time as the court deemed just and equitable, not beyond May 1, 1935, upon condition that the mortgagor pay a reasonable part of the income or rental value toward taxes, insurance, interest, and principal. The Blaisdells applied to the District Court of Hennepin County for an extension of the redemption period. The district court found that the reasonable rental value of the property was $40 per month and the present market value was $6000. It extended the redemption period to May 1, 1935, requiring the Blaisdells to pay $40 per month to the Association. The Supreme Court of Minnesota affirmed the order. The Home Building & Loan Association appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which reviewed the judgment sustaining the statute as applied to the preexisting mortgage.

Eastern Air Lines, Inc. and Gulf Oil Corporation maintained a business relationship spanning several decades involving the sale and purchase of aviation fuel. On June 27, 1972, following months of arm's length negotiation, the parties executed a contract under which Gulf agreed to supply Eastern's requirements of jet fuel at specified cities in the Eastern system through January 31, 1977. The agreement was Gulf's standard form aviation fuel contract and incorporated a price escalation clause tied to the average of the posted prices for West Texas sour crude oil 30.0-30.9 gravity as listed for Gulf, Shell, and Pan American in Platt's Oilgram Crude Oil Supplement. The contract price mechanism operated against the backdrop of U.S. government price controls in effect from 1972 through the fall of 1973. In late 1973 the Arab oil embargo occurred. OPEC unilaterally increased the price of their crude to the world market some 400% between September, 1973, and January 15, 1974. This triggered implementation of two-tier price controls under which old oil remained frozen at controlled levels while new and released oil prices rose from approximately $5 to $11 per barrel. Platt's continued publishing only the controlled old oil postings for West Texas Sour, and Eastern paid contract prices that rose from 11 cents to 15 cents per gallon. On March 8, 1974, Gulf demanded that Eastern accept a price increase or face cutoff of jet fuel supplies within fifteen days. Eastern filed its complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging breach and seeking preliminary and permanent mandatory injunctions. By agreement of the parties a preliminary injunction preserving the status quo was entered on March 20, 1974, requiring Gulf to continue performance and Eastern to pay according to contract terms pending final disposition. Gulf answered and asserted that the contract lacked mutuality, was not a binding requirements contract, and was commercially impracticable. At trial the parties presented evidence concerning Eastern's fuel liftings at Gulf stations, which varied daily, weekly, and monthly due to weather, schedules, aircraft loads, and fuel freighting practices that Gulf had accepted without objection over thirty years of dealing. Gulf introduced evidence of its increased crude oil costs, including intra-company transfer prices that incorporated profits from its overseas and domestic production subsidiaries, while the record showed Gulf recorded net profits after taxes of approximately $800 million in 1973 and more than $1.065 billion in 1974.