Condition Subsequent
A stipulated future event which, if it occurs, brings an existing contract or obligation to an end - the mirror image of a condition precedent.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The Court of Appeal in King Crude Carriers SA v Ridgebury November LLC [2024] EWCA Civ 719 recorded, at [19] (drawing on Chitty on Contracts), the settled description that 'an agreement may be subject to a condition subsequent or defeasant whereby it determines on the occurrence of the stipulated event'. This is the counterpart to a condition precedent, which suspends an obligation until an event occurs; a condition subsequent instead operates on an obligation, or a whole contract, that already exists, bringing it to an end once the stipulated event happens.
The classification matters because English law treats deemed fulfilment differently depending on which type of condition is engaged. The judgment discusses the maxim that a party cannot rely on its own breach to argue that a counterparty 'has failed to fulfil a condition precedent or that a condition subsequent has been triggered', but confirms there is no general doctrine of deemed fulfilment for a condition precedent to the accrual of a debt - the disappointed party's remedy there is confined to damages - whereas a condition attached only to payment of an already-accrued debt can more readily be waived or dispensed with.
Example
A charterparty clause providing that hire ceases to be payable if the vessel is off-hire for a stipulated number of days operates as a condition subsequent: the obligation to pay hire exists and has accrued, but is brought to an end on the occurrence of the specified event.
Related terms
Official sources
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