Force majeure clause

A force majeure clause excuses a party from performing, or suspends performance, when a defined event beyond its control prevents it, listing the excepted events and the relief they trigger. English law has no general force majeure doctrine, so the clause is purely contractual: it operates only on the events it names and is construed strictly against the party invoking it. Typical listed events include war, strikes, embargoes, and acts of God. It overlaps with but differs from the doctrine of frustration, which discharges the whole contract by law, and from a hardship clause, which addresses changed economic balance rather than impossibility.