When a condition operates as such,
it lets in an outside force to destroy the existing state of
things. For although its existence is due to consent of parties,
its operation depends on the choice of one of them. When a
condition is broken, the person entitled to insist on it may do
so if he chooses; but he may, if he prefers, elect to keep the
contract on foot. He gets his right to avoid it from the
agreement, but the avoidance comes from him.
Hence it is important to distinguish those stipulations which
have this extreme effect from those which only interpret the
extent of a promise, or define the events to which it applies.
And as it has just been shown that a condition need not be
insisted on as such, we must further distinguish between its
operation by way of avoidance, which is peculiar to it, and its
incidental working by way of interpretation and definition, in
common with other clauses not conditions.
This is best illustrated by taking a bilateral contract between A
and B, where A's undertaking is conditional on B's doing what he
promises to do, and where, after A has got a certain distance in
his task, B breaks his half of the bargain. For instance, A is
employed as a clerk by B, and is wrongfully dismissed in the
middle of a quarter.
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