Personal Service Obligations Flashcards
PERSONAL SERVICE VS OBLIGATION TO DO?
personal service obligations means that someone specific has to do something.
* For instance, if I require Jenny specifically to work for me or build something for me, this is personal service. – in personam
* On the other hand, obligations to do something means that something has to get done but it does not matter who does it.
Analytically, there is a distinction between the two: personal service obligations are rarely enforced, while obligations to do something may be if certain conditions are met.
General Rule? Giles v Morris
GENERAL RULE: contracts for personal services are generally not subject to specific enforcement due to the significant infringement on personal liberties. Further, assessing satisfactory performance of these contracts is inherently challenging, given the complexity and subjective nature of human behaviour: Giles v Morris
- Consider mutuality, servitude, liberty, supervision factors.
Exception to the general rule?
EXCEPTION: While positive personal service obligations are not enforceable, negative ones are Lumley; Warner Bros
* Note: Lumley was an implicit negative covenant - Even if the contract did not explicitly say “you cannot sing anywhere else” there is an implied obligation that she shouldn’t, since she said that she would only sing for L.
* Warner Brothers – express negative covenant
Exceptions to the exception?
EXCEPTIONS TO THE EXCEPTION:
* Negative obligation tantamount to positive: the Court will NOT put a person in a position where they are bound to perform negative components of a contract if the effect of enforcing a negative covenant is that the servant must work for the master or remain idle Warner Bros
* Personal service without supervision: in situations where the court is simply executing a contract to put someone in an employment position with no regard to continuing supervision/performance, this can be enforceable via SP Giles
- This personal obligation was only a one time interaction, thus there is no difficulty in supervision as there would have been in a continuing obligation. The nature of this personal obligation is very simply executing/signing the contract to appoint P as manager.
