Broken promises, broken trust: What the law says when contract is breached

ACROSS Tanzania, every day begins with a promise, a mason agrees to build a wall, a motorcycle driver delivers goods on credit or a teacher agrees to tutor after class.

Most of these small deals are built on trust and a handshake. But when one side disappears, delays or refuses to pay, the good faith turns sour. What many people do not realise is that these situations are not just bad luck.

They are legal matters, these are what the law calls a breach of contract and there is a clear path for seeking justice, if you understand your rights and have the right evidence.

What the law calls a contract

The Law of Contract Act [Cap 345 RE 2023] defines a contract in section 2(1) as “an agreement enforceable by law.” That means a contract is simply a promise that the law will recognise and protect. For an agreement to become a valid contract, the law under section 10 says there must be free consent, lawful purpose and something of value exchanged like money, goods or a service.

The parties must also be adults and of sound mind. So, when a tailor agrees to sew uniforms for 200,000 shillings and the client promises to pay upon delivery, that’s a legal contract. But if the tailor disappears after taking the money, the law steps in, that is a breach.

When a promise is broken

A breach of contract simply means one side has failed to do what they agreed to do. It can happen in different ways, maybe the job isn’t done at all, it is done poorly or it is done too late to be useful.

The law treats all these as breaches. Section 39 of the Law of Contract Act explains that even if someone announces in advance that they won’t deliver, the other side can treat the contract as broken and take action.

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And if the performance is delayed where time was important, section 55 says the person waiting can walk away and claim compensation.

Why evidence matters more than emotion

Courts do not decide cases based on who tells the saddest story.

They decide based on evidence. That is why keeping records is your greatest protection. If you paid for goods, keep the receipt or mobilemoney message. If you agreed through WhatsApp or text, don’t delete the chats. If someone witnessed your agreement, let them testify.

Under the Evidence Act [Cap 6 RE 2022], the person claiming breach must prove that the contract existed, that it was broken and that they suffered loss. In JNM Mining Services Ltd v Mineral Access Systems (T) Ltd (2022), the Court of Appeal reminded people that you cannot win a case based on mere words only on proof.

The right way to start Before running to court, the law expects you to act calmly and fairly. Start by writing a demand letter, a short letter telling the other person what they failed to do and what you want them to fix. Give them a few days, usually about two weeks, to respond.

This shows good faith and is often enough to make people act. If that doesn’t work, try mediation or arbitration what the law calls Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as guided by the Civil Procedure Code [Cap 33 RE 2023] and the Arbitration Act, 2020.

These are faster and cheaper ways to settle disagreements without dragging each other to court.

When you finally go to court

If peaceful efforts fail, you can file a case in court.

The kind of court depends on how much money or property is involved. In your case, as a plaint, should explain what the agreement was, how it was broken and what loss you suffered. Section 73 of the Law of Contract Act [Cap 345 RE 2023] says a person who suffers loss because of a breach has the right to be compensated.

The court awards damages which is money meant to cover the loss that directly came from the broken promise. But not every loss counts.

The law is clear, the loss must have been foreseeable meaning it was something both sides could reasonably expect might happen if the deal went wrong and it must have resulted directly from the breach itself. This principle comes from a famous old case, Hadley v Baxendale (1854), which Tanzanian courts still use.

In Broken promises, broken trust: What the law says when contract is breached Cybersecurity for SMEs: Not just IT issue Part 3 Cybersecurity awareness month simple words, you are compensated for what you truly lost because of the breach, not for losses that were too farfetched or unexpected. For example, if a shop owner pays a supplier for goods that are never delivered, the owner can claim damages for the money lost and maybe lost sales from that same stock.

But they can not claim for losses from an unrelated future deal or something the supplier could never have known about. How the court decides the amount The court does not pick numbers at random. It looks at how the breach caused your loss, whether the loss was predictable and whether you tried to reduce the damage.

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The law expects you to act reasonably for example, if someone failed to deliver building materials, you should try to buy them elsewhere rather than sitting idle.

In Hass Petroleum (T) Ltd v UKOD International Co Ltd (2023), the court emphasised that the goal of compensation is not to punish the wrongdoer but to place the injured person as close as possible to where they would have been if the promise had been kept.

That is what fairness means in law.

Don’t wait too long

Even the strongest claim becomes useless if you delay. The Law of Limitation Act [Cap 89 RE 2023] gives you six years from the date the breach happened to file your case. After that, no matter how right you are, the court can’t hear it. So, act early.

Keep your documents ready, send a demand letter and seek advice before time runs out.

The everyday side of the law

Contracts are not just for companies or big business people.

They exist in ordinary life when you pay for a service, rent a room, hire a decorator or sell produce. The law protects every honest agreement, big or small. What matters is that you can show it existed and that it was broken. So, write down your deals, keep your messages and receipts and don’t rely on memory. Having something in writing isn’t a sign of mistrust it’s your protection when things go wrong.

The bigger picture

Contracts are the invisible threads that hold society together. They build trust in trade, work and family dealings. But trust alone is not enough, it needs the structure of law. The Law of Contract Act 2023 gives every Tanzanian that structure, a promise that fairness is not a privilege but a right.

When people understand how to respond to a breach, how to prove it, act on time and claim fair compensation, the law becomes more than theory. It becomes power in the hands of the people. And that is what Jua Leo, Jilinde Kesho is all about, knowing enough to protect yourself, your work and your word.