A condition which prevents a contract from going into operation until it has been fulfilled

Classification

Conditions are either express or implied, the former when incorporated in express terms in the deed, contract, lease, or grant; the latter, when inferred or presumed by law, from the nature of the transaction or the conduct of the parties, to have been tacitly understood between them as a part of the agreement, though not expressly mentioned.

They are possible or impossible: the former when they admit of performance in the ordinary course of events; the latter when it is contrary to the course of nature or human limitations that they should ever be performed. They are lawful or unlawful: the former when their character is not in violation of any rule, principle, or policy of law; the latter when they are such as the law will not allow to be made.

They are consistent or repugnant: the former when they are in harmony and concord with the other parts of the transaction; the latter when they contradict, annul, or neutralize the main purpose of the "contract". Repugnant conditions are also called "insensible".

They are affirmative or negative: the former being a condition which consists in doing a thing, as provided that the lessee shall pay rent, etc.; the latter being a condition that consists in not doing a thing, as provided that the lessee shall not alien, etc.

They are precedent or subsequent. A condition precedent is one which must happen or be performed before the estate to which it is annexed can vest or be enlarged; or it is one which is to be performed before some right dependent thereon accrues, or some act dependent thereon is performed. A fact other than mere lapse of time which must exist or occur before a duty of immediate performance of a promise arises. U. S. v. Schaeffer, C.A.Wash., 319 F.2d 907, 911.

A "condition precedent" is one that is to be performed before the agreement becomes effective, and which calls for the happening of some event or the performance of some act after the terms of the contract have been arrested on, before the contract shall be binding on the parties; e.g. under disability insurance contract, insured is required to submit proof of disability before insurer is required to pay. Sherman v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 297 Mass. 330, 8 N.E.2d 892.

A condition subsequent is one annexed to an estate already vested, by the performance of which such estate is kept and continued, and by the failure or non-performance of which it is defeated; or it is a condition referring to a future event, upon the happening of which the obligation becomes no longer binding upon the other party, if he chooses to avail himself of the condition. Co.Litt. 201; Carroll v. Carroll's Ex'r, 248 Ky. 386, 58 S.W.2d 670, 672.

A condition subsequent is any condition which divests liability which has already attached on the failure to fulfill the condition as applied in contracts, a provision giving one party the right to divest himself of liability and obligation to perform further if the other party fails to meet condition, e.g., submit dispute to arbitration.

In property law, a condition which causes defeasance of estate on failure to perform, e.g. fee simple on condition.

In lease, a provision giving lessor right to terminate for tenant's failure to perform condition. Conditions may also be positive (requiring that a specified event shall happen or an act be done) and restrictive or negative, the latter being such as impose an obligation not to do a particular thing, as, that a lessee shall not alien or sub-let or commit waste, or the like. They may be single, copulative, or disjunctive. Those of the first kind require the performance of one specified thing only; those of the second kind require the performance of divers acts or things; those of the third kind require the performance of one of several things.

Conditions may also be independent, dependent, or mutual. They belong to the first class when each of the two conditions must be performed without any reference to the other; to the second class when the performance of one condition is not obligatory until the actual performance of the other; and to the third class when neither party need perform his condition unless the other is ready and willing to perform his, or, in other words, when the mutual covenants go to the whole consideration on both sides and each is precedent to the other.

The following varieties may also be noted: A condition collateral is one requiring the performance of a collateral act having no necessary relation to the main subject of the agreement.

A compulsory condition is one which expressly requires a thing to be done, as, that a lessee shall pay a specified sum of money on a certain day or his lease shall be void.

Concurrent conditions are those which are mutually dependent and are to be performed at the same time or simultaneously.

A condition inherent is one annexed to the rent reserved out of the land whereof the estate is made, or rather, to the estate in the land, in respect of rent.

French law. Conditions in French law are of the following types:

The following peculiar distinctions are made:

(1) A condition is casuelle when it depends on a chance or hazard;

(2) a condition is potestatiue when it depends on the accomplishment of something which is in the power of the party to accomplish;

(3) a condition is mixte when it depends partly on the will of the party and partly on the will of others;

(4) a condition is suspensive when it is a future and uncertain event, or present but unknown event, upon which an obligation takes or fails to take effect;

(5) a condition is resolutoire when it is the event which undoes an obligation which has already had effect as such.

Synonymous distinguished. A "condition" is to be distinguished from a limitation, in that the latter may be to or for the benefit of a stranger, who may then take advantage of its determination, while only the grantor, or those who stand in his place, can take advantage of a condition. Also, a limitation ends the estate without entry or claim, which is not true of a condition. It also differs from a conditional limitation.

In determining whether, in the case of estates greater than estates for years, the language constitutes a "condition" or a "conditional limitation," the rule applied is that, where an estate is so expressly limited by the words of its creation that it cannot endure for any longer time than until the condition happens on which the estate is to fail, this is limitation, but when the estate is expressly granted on condition in deed, the law permits it to endure beyond the time of the contingency happening, unless the grantor takes advantage of the breach of condition, by making entry.

It differs also from a covenant, which can be made by either grantor or grantee, while only the grantor can make a condition.

The chief distinction between a condition subsequent in a deed and a covenant pertains to the remedy in event of breach, which, in the former case, subjects the estate to a forfeiture, and in the latter is merely a ground for recovery of damages. A charge is a devise of land with a bequest out of the subject-matter, and a charge upon the devisee personally, in respect of the estate devised, gives him an estate on condition. A condition also differs from a remainder; for, while the former may operate to defeat the estate before its natural termination, the latter cannot take effect until the completion of the preceding estate