A party to a contract may be precluded from enforcing a contractual right if it has acted in a way that is clearly inconsistent with that right under the doctrine of election. Recently, the NSW Court of Appeal applied the principles of election to a complex factual scenario and the lesson from the decision is this — if you have a right to terminate a contract, you should expressly communicate your intentions to the other party as soon as possible after the right to terminate enlivens, says McCabe Curwood managing principal Andrew Lacey.