Legal Definitions - artificial condition

ARTIFICIAL CONDITION

An artificial condition is a future and uncertain event on which the existence or extent of an obligation or liability depends. It is a stipulation or prerequisite in a contract, will, or other instrument, constituting the essence of the instrument. It can be a term, provision, or clause in a contract. An artificial condition can be affirmative, casual, collateral, compulsory, concurrent, constructive, dependent, disjunctive, inherent, lawful, mixed, negative, positive, potestative, preexisting, promissory, resolutory, restrictive, single, or suspensive.

• If Jones promises to pay Smith $500 for repairing a car, Smith's failure to repair the car (an implied or constructive condition) relieves Jones of the promise to pay.
• A condition that requires the performance of an act having no relation to an agreement's main purpose is a collateral condition.
• A condition that must occur or be performed at the same time as another condition is a concurrent condition.

These examples illustrate how an artificial condition can be different types of conditions that affect the existence or extent of an obligation or liability. In the first example, the failure to repair the car is a constructive condition that negates the duty