If a condition is attached to the contract's coming into being,
there is as yet no contract. Either party may withdraw, at will,
until the condition is determined. There is no obligation,
although there may be an offer or a promise, and hence there is
no relation between the parties which requires discussion here.
But some conditions seemingly arising out of a contract already
made are conditions of this sort. Such is always the case if the
condition of a promise lies within the control of the promisor's
own will. For instance, a promise to pay for clothes if made to
the customer's satisfaction, has been held in Massachusetts to
[316] make the promisor his own final judge. /1/ So interpreted,
it appears to me to be no contract at all, until the promisor's
satisfaction is expressed. His promise is only to pay if he sees
fit, and such a promise cannot be made a contract because it
cannot impose any obligation. /2/ If the promise were construed
to mean that the clothes should be paid for provided they were
such as ought to satisfy the promisor, /3/ and thus to make the
jury the arbiter, there would be a contract, because the promisor
gives up control over the event, but it would be subject to a
condition in the sense of the present analysis.
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