Book1 Chapter03 Title04

GERMAN CIVIL CODE OF 1896

• Based on the English Translation by: Wang, Chung Hui (1907). The German Civil Code, translated and annotated with historical introduction and appendices. London: Stevens and Sons. [available on Archive.org]

BOOK I. General Principles.

Chapter III. Juristic Acts.

Title IV. Conditions, Limitation of Time.

Section 158.

• [I] If a juristic act is entered into subject to a condition precedent, the operative effect dependent upon the condition comes into being on the fulfilment of the condition.
• [II] If a juristic act is entered into subject to a condition subsequent the operative effect of the juristic act comes to an end on the fulfilment of the conditions; from and after that moment the previous legal position is restored.

Section 159.

• If, according to the scope of the juristic act, the consequences incident to the fulfilment of the condition are to become operative as from an earlier time, then on the fulfilment of the condition the parties are bound to perform reciprocally what they would have been bound to perform, if the consequences had become operative at the earlier time.

Section 160.

• [I] A person who is entitled subject to a condition precedent may, on the fulfilment of the condition, demand compensation from the other party, if the latter during the time pending the fulfilment has by his fault destroyed or impaired the right dependent upon the condition.
• [II] In the case of a juristic act entered into subject to a condition subsequent the person in whose favour the previous legal position is restored has the like claim under the same conditions.

Section 161.

• [I] If a person has disposed of an object subject to a condition precedent, every further disposition which he makes of the thing pending the fulfilment of the condition is void on the fulfilment of the condition in so far as it would destroy or impair the operative effect dependent upon the condition. Equivalent to such a disposition is a disposition which is effected, pending the fulfilment of a condition precedent, by means of compulsory execution or distraint, or by a trustee in bankruptcy.
• [II] The same applies, in the case of a condition subsequent, to the dispositions of a person whose right is extinguished upon the fulfilment of the condition.
• [III] The provisions in favour of those who derive rights from a person without title apply mutatis mutandis.

Section 162.

• [I] If the fulfilment of a condition is prevented in bad faith by the party to whose disadvantage it would operate, the condition is deemed to have been fulfilled.
• [II] If the fulfilment of a condition is brought about in bad faith by the party to whose advantage it would operate, the condition is deemed not to have been fulfilled.

Section 163.

• If, when a juristic act is entered into, a time has been fixed at which it shall begin to be or cease to be operative, then in the former case the provisions applicable to conditions precedent, in the latter case those applicable to conditions subsequent, contained 158, 160, 161, apply mutatis mutandis.