Act of God

1. In the last post on Force Majeure, an Act of God was described as a Force Majeure event excusing one from performing one's duties under an agreement.
2. An Act of God is an event which is so extraordinary that it cannot be guarded against or foreseen. It  commonly applies to natural events like earthquakes, floods, storms and hurricanes.
3. Should an event qualify as an Act of God and this is agreed as a Force Majeure event, then it would excuse a failure to perform one's contractual duties.
4. It should be remembered that Act of God is not Force Majeure but a component of Force Majeure.
5. Recently, there has been some debate surrounding the issue whether human activity triggered natural disasters would qualify a genuine Acts of God. A few examples would be water pressure at dams releasing geological faults and resulting in earthquakes and oil drilling triggering mud volcanos. The effects of these remains to be seen.

Bite Size Sign Off....until the next post!