The role of hardship clauses in controlling liability under contractIntroductionThe fundamental principle of contract law is that the parties to a contract must fulfill their contractual obligations. The hardship principle operates as a modification of the pacta sunt servanda principle; gives relief to a party when the fulfillment of a contractual obligation due to change in circumstances becomes extremely burdensome. This essay will discuss the role of hardship clauses in controlling contractual liability. The first part briefly explains the key elements of hardship clauses. The second part considers the role of hardship clauses in controlling liability from a theoretical perspective, while the third part undertakes an analysis of the elements of hardship clauses with the aim of discovering when such clauses can be used to limit liability to pursuant to a contract. Part Four discusses the obligation to renegotiate and some sanctions for failing to successfully renegotiate a solution in changed circumstances. Content of hardship clauses Hardship clauses are usually incorporated into long-term construction contracts, infrastructure projects, joint ventures, management and marketing agreements and other contracts that require regular provision of services or delivery of goods from a particular supply source . Although the details of the hardship clauses in each contract vary, the essential element of such a clause is that the occurrence of certain events has substantially altered the balance of the contract, and that the events are entirely unforeseen and unforeseeable, and are outside the control of... half of the paper... ...[11] D. Tallon, Exemptions, in Commentary on the Intl Sales Law572 (CM Bianca & MJ Bonell eds., 1987) at 580.[12] Ibid at 611.[13]D P. Flambouras, The doctrine of the impossibility of performance and Clausula Rebus Sic Statibus, 13 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 261 at 272.[14] PJM Declercq, Modern analysis of the legal effect of force majeure clauses in situations of commercial impracticability, 15 JL& Com. 213 at 221.[15] Ibid.[16] Wolfgang Peter, Arbitration and Renegotiation of International Investment Agreements 322 (1995) at 244.[17] Kuwait v. Am. Independent Oil Co., Final Award, March 24, 1982, 21I.LM 976, 1014 (1982).[18] Supra note 3 at 208.[19] Ibid.[20] ICC Award no. 2478, 1978 YB Arbitration Com. 222.[21] Supra note 17 at 250.[22] Supra note 3 at 209.[23] Ibid.