The Effects of a Contract under a Condition

I. A condition concerning the past¹ or concerning the present² brings it about that the contract immediately subsists or does not subsist, according as the condition has been fulfilled or not fulfilled. But execution of the contract is suspended until it is known whether the condition has been fulfilled or not.

¹ For example: if your father has died, I give this thing to you.

² For example: if you are a minor, I confer this or that on you.

II. A condition concerning the future operates thus:

1. A condition concerning a future necessary event,¹ as known as such, is presumed to be interpreted in such a way that it does not suspend the existence of the contract, but only its execution; hence the contract immediately subsists.

2. A condition concerning a future contingent event:

a) If it is suspensive,² it effects: 1° that the value of the contract and the obligation of executing it are suspended; 2° that the debtor must await the event of the condition and not impede it; 3° that, once the condition has been fulfilled, the contract becomes absolute without new consent.

Question. What does revocation of consent, made before the condition has been fulfilled, effect?

Response. Consent revoked in this way prevents the contract from being perfected when the condition has been fulfilled, since the will ceases without which the contract cannot be perfected. If, however, consent is revoked illegitimately, the obligation of furnishing that which the contract involved per se persists by force of the obligation of repairing the injury.

b) If it is resolutory,³ it effects: 1° that the contract immediately has force and must be put into execution; 2° that fulfillment of the condition must be awaited and not impeded; 3° that, once the condition has been fulfilled, the contract ceases, and things must be restored to their former state; 4° that, if the condition fails, the contract becomes absolute; but the condition is judged to fail when it becomes certain that it will never be fulfilled.

¹ For example: I give you a watch if I die.

² For example: if that business succeeds, I give you 100 florins.

³ I give you 100 florins until you have arrived at a better state.

III. Things to be observed concerning certain particular conditions.

1. A condition concerning an impossible thing¹ effects that the contract is null; one who contracts thus is not judged to will to contract. If, however, the condition is added only in jest, the contract is valid.

2. A condition, merely suppositive,² concerning a base thing³ effects that the promisor can and must revoke the promise before the base act has been performed; once it has been revoked, the contract wholly collapses. If he has not revoked it, in our opinion he is bound, at least per se, after the condition has been fulfilled, to stand by the things promised, because a conditioned contract, although under a base condition, does not seem to be plainly null from the beginning, and therefore, once the condition has been fulfilled, to obtain effect.⁴

3. A condition contrary to the substance of the contract⁵ makes the contract void if it is truly placed as a condition. For consent is lacking with respect to the object of the contract, since it is destroyed by the condition.

¹ I give you 100 florins if you stop the course of the sun.

² It is merely suppositive if the condition is not added as one to be placed.

³ I promise you 10 florins if you admit intercourse.

⁴ Those things which according to the things said in n. 833 militate against a contract under a base condition to be placed can by no means be urged by the same right against a contract under a merely suppositive base condition.

⁵ I contract with you if you renounce the right to begetting offspring.

473. A conditioned contract in its obligations depends upon the fulfillment of the condition.

A. A contract entered into under a condition concerning the present or concerning the past obliges at once or not, according as the condition exists or does not exist on the part of the thing. And the same holds for a condition concerning a future thing that is certain and already known as such in a necessary cause: such a condition is judged not to have been added.

B. A contract entered into under a condition concerning an uncertain future only obliges or ceases to oblige after fulfillment of the condition. For condition is twofold (a. 1168): one is suspensive (vertragende), which suspends the assent to be furnished so that the existence of the obligation depends upon the fulfilled condition, for example, I buy the house if my absent wife consents; another is resolutory (ontbindende, opschorsende), which dissolves the assent given so that the cessation of the obligation depends upon the fulfillment of the condition, for example, I buy the house unless my wife contradicts; I sell the horse unless within a month I need it. Now:

1. A suspensive condition a) before the event suspends the principal obligation, but induces an obligation of awaiting the event of the thing; whence the debtor preserves dominion of the thing, and the creditor has only a conditioned right (a. 1182). b) Once the condition is fulfilled, the contract without new consent passes into an absolute one; indeed generally the obligation is judged to exist from the day the contract was entered into (a. 1179). c) When the condition is lacking, the contract (unless the debtor impeded the condition, a. 1178) is null; indeed it is judged to have been null from the beginning, and therefore if the thing had already been handed over, it would have to be restored with the fruits received (a. 1181-82).

A contract made under a merely potestative condition, whose fulfillment depends on the will of the debtor alone, is null from the beginning (a. 1174), for example, I will give you the book if I will.

2. A resolutory condition a) before the event does not suspend the obligation, but leaves the contract valid, so that the debtor here and now is held by the same obligations and the creditor has the same rights as if the contract were firm; whence the promised thing is to be handed over to the creditor. b) Once the condition is fulfilled, the contract is dissolved by that very fact without the sentence of a judge, so that the obligation is judged never to have existed; and therefore the thing returns to the prior owner in the same state as if the contract had never existed. c) When the condition is lacking, the contract becomes simply irrevocable, with the same obligations as if no condition had ever been appended (a. 1183).

In synallagmatic contracts a resolutory condition is always understood: unless the other has not stood by the promises; but its fulfillment does not dissolve the contract except by decree of a judge (a. 1184).

A condition is a quality added to a contract, which for the most part suspends it until it is fulfilled. It is accustomed to be expressed by the particles if, unless, provided that, etc. The condition which can be placed upon contracts is manifold, namely: 1st, express or tacit; 2nd, of the present or of the future; 3rd, possible or impossible; 4th, necessary or merely contingent; 5th, honorable or dishonorable; 6th, potestative or casual, according as it is in the power of the contracting party or is not; 7th, positive or negative; 8th, contrary to the substance of the contract or not.

Concerning conditions the following things are to be noted:

1st. All conditions must be fulfilled in that sense in which the contracting parties are prudently judged to have wished to oblige themselves.

2nd. A condition concerning an impossible thing renders the contract null from the law of nature itself. The reason is that no one can oblige himself to something impossible.

3rd. A condition concerning the present and the past does not suspend the obligation, but immediately either brings it in or does not induce it; because it either exists or does not; therefore here and now either the contract is valid or null.

4th. A condition must be fulfilled not only equivalently, but in its own form. Some except the condition, if you shall marry, which they say is fulfilled by entrance into Religion; otherwise the condition would be base. Except if the condition were determined to some person, for example, if you shall marry Paul, because then a just and honorable reason can be present. Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 930.

5th. Potestative conditions, or those which depend on the will of one of the contracting parties, are judged fulfilled not only when that is furnished which was enjoined in the manner of a condition, concerning which there can be no controversy, but even if that is not furnished in reality, when he who obliged himself either 1st, impeded the condition from being fulfilled; or 2nd, was impeded by another from satisfying the condition. Cf. Kenrick, tract. 11, nn. 15 and following.