A purchaser's insistence on its contractual right to receive clear title, including by setting a timeframe for the vendor to resolve title issues, does not constitute repudiation where the contract requires the vendor to deliver assets free from adverse interests. Proffering a draft deed of mutual termination is the antithesis of repudiation, as it proceeds on the footing that the contract remains binding. Conduct inconsistent with adherence to a contract does not necessarily constitute acceptance of repudiation where it is equally or more consistent with consensual abandonment. The scope of the Shepherd v Felt and Textiles principle — whether it extends to justifying conduct amounting to repudiation (as distinct from termination) — remains an open question.
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