....entitling the other side, temporarily, to withhold performance, to wit: on a plea of an unperformed contract: “Exceptio non adimpleti contractus ... the right to refuse to perform one’s obligations under a reciprocal contract unless or until the other party dos so. No performance is due to one who has not himself performed.”


Repudiation is generally not dealt with very well in English contract law or remedies textbooks, but means the other party is given an option of whether 1. to accept the repudiatory breach and treat the contract as 'discharged' (so at an end), then backing out of the contract or 2. reject the breach and 'affirm' (uphold) the contract, going on to make the defaulter comply with contract.

The Italian and Spanish concepts, as in the first example sentence, suggest that there is only one option on offer: that of 'downing tools', namely of a temporary strike.

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Note added at 18 hrs (2019-07-23 19:27:10 GMT)
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Thanks, Noris. 1. The spelling for the verb is legitimise in BrE and legitimize in AmE.

2. The verb of to legitimate IMO - in my opinion - is ambiguous for making an illegit child (a b*stard') legitimate.

3. Not a legitimate - but, if anything, a (stoppage-) legitimis/zing (repudiatory) breach that, per se, is non-legitimate = unlawful or wrongful, rather than illegal - so is 'illegitimate'. Capito?