There was at one time support for the view that, in addition to conditions, innominate terms and warranties, a fourth category of contract term existed, namely, a "fundamental term". A fundamental term was one which was deemed to form the "core" of the contract. It was also asserted that performance of a fundamental term could not, unlike other contract terms, be avoided by means of an exemption clause. However, the House of Lords have indicated that they consider "fundamental term" to be a synonym for "condition". The general view now is that there is no legal basis for a separate category of "fundamental terms".

See also Fundamental breach.