When a contract has been breached, the ‘innocent’ party will be able to pursue one or more remedies against the party who has breached the contract. Discuss the common law self-help and the judicial remedies in the context of contracts between traders.

               It is a fact that when a contract is signed between the two parties, they must have agreed on certain points to carry out a contract. For instance, it is a must for them to agree on certain terms and conditions so that if any issue or problem occurs in the future, they can resolve their issues as per agreed terms and conditions. If company A has made an agreement with the company B regarding a joint business venture, then both parties have to agree with certain terms that how the contract will continue, what would be its expiry date, what terms will be valid, what would happen if a party breaches any term mentioned in the contract, etc. In a given situation, where one party has breached the contract, then the second party will be considered the innocent party, and it will be able to pursue certain legal actions and remedies against the party, who has breached the contract. Certain remedies will be mentioned in the contract, and if both parties will not be able to settle their issue, then they can pursue a case in the court to have possible legal remedies. It is important to know that there are certain differences between Scottish Law and English Law when it comes to handling contracts. So, both laws should not be confused so that proper contracts are made. One term is considered very important in Scottish Law and that term is titled as “mutuality of obligations”. It means that both parties have some obligations to each other, so if one party has breached its obligation, it cannot ask another party to act according to contract and fulfill an obligation, until they rectify a breach of contract made by them (Bain, 2016)

               Now, it is important to look at certain remedies, which are available as per the Scottish Law. The first type of remedies is called “self-help remedies”. This self-help remedy allows an innocent party to act on their own by looking at the terms of the contract mentioned for breach of contract, and take relevant action without taking the matter to the court. For instance, one such remedy is “retention”. According to this remedy, the innocent party will be able to withhold its obligation of performance as per the contract, until the other party fulfills its promise as per breach of contract, and performs their due obligation. Another remedy is called “rescission”, which means that contract can be ended by the innocent party on an immediate basis so that they don’t have to fulfill their due obligations of the contract. The other major type of remedy is related to judicial remedies, which means that the innocent party can take the matter to the court. If self-help remedies have not worked in their favor, and another party is not cooperating at all, then the innocent will pursue a case in the court. For instance, an innocent party can go to court and request them to give an order to another party that they stop breaching a contract, and fulfill their obligations as per the contract. So, these are some of the remedies which can be opted by the innocent party (Cameron, 2017)