The Online Asbestos, Asbestos Cancer, & Mesothelioma Authority
Breach
In legal matters, this is another word for violation. It can refer to an active violation - such as disturbance of the peace - or an act of omission, such as failure to fulfill one's obligations under the terms of a contract or other agreement without a legitimate cause.
An all-too-common example occurs frequently in the health insurance industry when the corporation - often quite arbitrarily - decides to deny payment for an insured's medically necessary treatment, even though the insured had every reasonable expectation that such costs were to be covered under the terms of the policy.
There are several areas to which the term breach may be applied:
breach of confidence: this occurs when one reveals confidential information to a third party in violation of a non-disclosure act or other confidentiality agreement;
breach of contract: when at least one of the parties to a contract fails to perform an obligation under the terms of said contract;
breach of promise: a now-obsolete principle of common law, since courts rarely recognize a "promise of marriage" (i.e., an engagement) to be legally binding as was once the case;
breach of peace: essentially, this refers to public misbehavior, such as becoming drunk and disorderly, playing loud music in a residential area between the hours of 11 PM and 7 AM, or instigating a civil disturbance such as a riot. This is better known as disturbing the peace, or public disorder, and is a misdemeanor in most jurisdictions.
Additionally, there exists what is called an efficient breach, which is a breach of contract that is beneficial to the breaching party in some way, as well as a fundamental breach, a breach of contract that is egregious enough to allow one of the parties to terminate said contract and sue the breaching party for damages.