Continuous readiness and willingness is essential for specific performance; claiming refund and damages can amount to abandonment of the contract.

A party seeking specific performance must keep the contract subsisting and show continuous readiness and willingness from the contract date until hearing. Here, the appellant's notice demanding refund of the advance and damages was treated as an election to regard the contract as broken, which was inconsistent with later seeking enforcement of the same contract. Once the appellant abandoned the contractual footing, the contract could not be revived at his choice for specific performance. Reliance on Section 24(c) of the Specific Relief Act did not help, because the defect was prior abandonment, not merely selection of remedies. Specific performance was therefore unavailable.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to specific performance of the contract of sale despite having issued a notice demanding return of the advance and damages, thereby abandoning the contract and failing to show continuous readiness and willingness to perform.

Analysis: A plaintiff seeking specific performance must keep the contract alive and prove continuous readiness and willingness from the date of the contract until the hearing. The appellant's notice claiming refund of the advance and damages was inconsistent with the subsistence of the contract and amounted to an election to treat it as broken. After such election, the contract could not be revived at the appellant's choice to seek specific performance. The reliance placed on Section 24(c) of the Specific Relief Act did not assist the appellant, because the issue was not merely the choice between remedies but the prior abandonment of the contractual footing necessary for specific performance.

Conclusion: The appellant was not entitled to specific performance and the finding was against the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The suit for specific performance failed because the appellant had not maintained the contract as subsisting and had disabled himself from seeking equitable relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A party seeking specific performance must continuously treat the contract as subsisting and remain ready and willing to perform; if he elects to treat the contract as at an end by claiming refund and damages, he cannot later revive the contract and demand specific performance.

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