It is sometimes said that renunciation can not be regarded as a breach unless it is renunciation of the entire contract, or of the entire performance which is due under the contract.1 This statement of the law is too extreme and probably is not intended to be taken literally. From its nature renunciation is generally a breach of the entire contract ;2 but if one of the parties has refused in advance to perform a part of the contract, but has expressed his willingness to perform the rest of the contract, it would seem that the rules which apply to the relation of the covenants to the entire contract in breach in general,3 should apply to cases of this sort; and that if such renunciation is a renunciation of a vital term of the contract on the one hand, it should operate as a discharge of the entire contract at the election of the adversary party, although the renunciation is not a renunciation of the entire contract;4 while if the renunciation is of a minor or subsidiary provision for which compensation can be made in damages, the adversary party can not treat such renunciation as a discharge of the entire contract.5