10. It is requisite that there should be two parties to Of the parties. every contract of sale, except where the seller and pur. chaser employ the same agent, or where a father or a

guardian makes a sale on behalf of a minor, or where a slave purchases his own freedom by permission of his

master.

11. It is sufficient that the parties have a sense of who may conthe obligation they contract, and a minor, with the con- tract. sent of his guardian, or a lunatic in his lucid intervals, may be contracting parties.

gal.

12. In a commutation of goods for goods, or of mo- Postponing ney for money, it is illegal to stipulate for a future period payment ille. of delivery; but in a commutation of money for goods or of goods for money, such stipulation is authorized.

Exception.

13. It is essential to the validity of every contract of Certainty re sale, that the subject of it and the consideration should quisite. be so determinate as to admit of no future contention regarding the meaning of the contracting parties,

ons.

14. It is also essential that the subject of the contract Other requishould be in actual existence at the period of making the site conditicontract, or that it should be susceptible of delivery, either immediately or at some future definite period.

site.

15. In a commutation of money for money, or of goods Equality for goods, if the articles opposed to each other are of when requi the nature of similars, equality in point of quantity is an essential condition.

tions.

16. It is unlawful to stipulate for any extraneous Illegal, condicondition, involving an advantage to either party, or any uncertainty which might lead to future litigation; but

Where the property.dif

if the extraneous condition be actually performed, or the uncertainty removed, the contract will stand good.

17. It is lawful to stipulate for an option of dissol. ving the contract; but the term stipulated should not exceed three days.

18. When payment is deferred to a future period, it must be determinate and cannot be suspended on an event, the time of the occurrence of which is uncertain, though its occurrence be inevitable. For instance, it is not lawful to suspend payment until the wind shall blow, or until it shall rain, nor is it lawful, even though the uncertainty be so inconsiderable as almost to amount to a fixed term; for instance, it is not lawful to suspend payment until the sowing or reaping time.

19. It is not lawful to sell property in exchange for a debt due from a third person, though it is for a debt due from the seller.

20. A resale of personal property cannot be made by the purchaser until the property shall actually have come into his possession.

21. A warranty as to freedom from defect and blemish, is implied in every contract of sale.

22. Where the property sold differs, either with resfers from the pect to quantity or quality from what the seller had description. described it, the purchaser is at liberty to recede from the contract.

Sale of land.

23. By the sale of land nothing thereon, which is of a transitory nature, passes. Thus the fruit on a tree belongs to the seller, though the tree itself, being a fixture, appertains to the purchaser of the land.

ty in case of

24. Where an option of dissolving the contract has Responsibili been stipulated by the purchaser, and the property sold option is injured or destroyed in his possession, he is respon sible for the price, agreed upon; but where the stipulation was on the part of the seller, the purchaser is responsible for the value only of the property.

annulled.

25. But the condition of option is annulled by the Option how purchaser's, exercising any act of ownership, such as to take the property out of statu quo.

chasers of unseen pro

26. Where the property has not been seen by the pur- Option to pur. chaser, nor a sample, (where a sample suffices), he is at liberty to recede from the contract, provided he may not perty. have exercised any act of ownership; if upon seeing the property it does not suit his expectation, even though no Exception. option may have been stipulated.

sellers.

27. But though the property have not been seen by No option to the seller, he is not at liberty to recede from the contract (except in a sale of goods for goods) where no Exception. option was stipulated.

28. A purchaser who may not have agreed to take the Option on discovering a property with all its faults, is at liberty to return it to defect. the seller on the discovery of a defect, of which he was not aware at the time of the purchase, unless while in the hands of the purchaser it received a further blemish; in which case he is only entitled to compensation.

Exception.

of resale.

29. But if the purchaser have sold such faulty article Rule in case to a third person, he cannot exact compensation from the original seller; unless, by having made an addition to the article prior to the sale, he was precluded from returning it to the original seller,

Exception.

Cases in

which restitution may be demanded.

And compensation only.

The first pur

chaser is on a

the second.

30. In a case where articles are sold, and are found on examination to be faulty, complete restitution of the price may be demanded from the seller, even though they have been destroyed in the act of trial, if the purchaser had not derived any benefit from them; but if the purchaser had made beneficial use of the faulty articles, he is only entitled to proportional compensation.

31. If a person sell an article which he had purchased, footing with and be compelled to receive back such article and to refund the purchase money, he is entitled to the same remedy against the original seller, if the defect be of an inherent nature.

Proviso.

Remedy against the seller how lost.

General rules

32. If a purchaser, after becoming aware of a defect in the article purchased, make use of the article or attempt to remove the defect, he shall have no remedy against the seller, (unless there may have been some special clause in the contract); such act on his part implying acquiescence.

33. It is a general rule, that if the articles sold are for the right of restitution. of such a nature as not easily to admit of separation or division without injury, and part of them, subsequently to the purchase, be discovered to be defective, or to be the property of a third person, it is not competent to the purchaser to keep a part and to return a part, demanding a proportional restitution of the price for the part returned. In this case he must either keep the whole, And that of demanding compensation for the proportion that is decompensation. fective, or he must return the whole, demanding complete restitution of the price. It is otherwise where the several parts may be separated without injury.

34. The practices of forestalling, regrating, and engrossing, and of selling on Friday, after the hour of prayer, are all prohibited, though they are valid.

CHAPTER IV.

OF SHOOFAA, OR PRE-EMPTION.

pre-emption.

1. Shoofaa, or the right of Pre-emption, is defined to Definition of be a power of possessing property which has been sold, by paying a sum equal to that paid by the purchaser.

2. The right of pre-emption takes effect with regard to property sold, or parted with by some means equivalent to sale, but not with regard to property the possession of which has been transferred by gift, or by will, or by inheritance; unless the gift was made for a consideration, and the consideration was expressly stipulated; but pre-emption cannot be claimed where the donor has received a consideration for his gift, such consideration not having been expressly stipulated.

With respect to what pro

perty it does.

does not take

and to what it

effect.

rules.

3. The right of pre-emption takes effect with regard Additional to property, whether divisible or indivisible; but it does not apply to moveable property, and it cannot take effect until after the sale is complete, as far as the interest of the seller is concerned.

to any particu

4. The right of pre-emption may be claimed by all Not restricted descriptions of persons. There is no distinction made lar class. on account of difference of religion.

5. All rights and privileges which belong to an ordi- Rights and privileges of nary purchaser, belong equally to a purchaser under the right of pre-emption.

claim pre

6. The following persons may claim the right of pre- Who may emption in the order enumerated: A partner in the emption,