Legal Definitions - compulsory condition

Compulsory Condition

A compulsory condition is an uncertain event that triggers or negates a duty to perform a promised action. It can be a stipulation or prerequisite in a contract, will, or other instrument, constituting the essence of the instrument. For example, if Jones promises to pay Smith $500 for repairing a car, Smith's failure to repair the car relieves Jones of the promise to pay. A compulsory condition can be affirmative, casual, collateral, concurrent, constructive, dependent, disjunctive, inherent, lawful, mixed, negative, positive, or suspensive.

• If a tenant promises to pay rent on a certain day, paying rent on that day is a compulsory condition.
• If a contract states that a party must deliver goods by a certain date, delivering the goods by that date is a compulsory condition.
• If a will states that a beneficiary must reach a certain age before receiving an inheritance, reaching that age is a compulsory condition.

These examples illustrate how a compulsory condition is an uncertain event that must occur before a duty to perform a promised action arises. If the condition is not met, the promised action does not have to be performed.