Where does condition collide?

In logic and philosophy a condition is a requirement standing in a fixed relation to some outcome: a necessary condition must hold for the outcome to hold, and a sufficient condition guarantees the outcome once it holds. The same word names the antecedent, the 'if' part, of a conditional statement, and the truth conditions that say when a sentence counts as true. Brennan's Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry Necessary and Sufficient Conditions, first published in 2003, lays out these relations and the mistakes that come from confusing the two directions. Here a condition is an abstract relation between statements or facts, not a treatment given to a group, a term written into a contract, or an illness a person carries.[1]

Unit

A necessary or sufficient requirement, stated as a relation between propositions

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed by whether the outcome can hold without it (necessity) or cannot fail given it (sufficiency)

In contract law a condition is a term so central to the bargain that its breach lets the injured party treat the whole contract as at an end, unlike a warranty, a lesser term whose breach only supports a claim for money. The word also names an event that must occur before a duty falls due (a condition precedent) or that ends a duty once it happens (a condition subsequent). Corbin's 1919 Conditions in the Law of Contract is a founding analysis of these operative facts and how they govern when performance becomes owed. Here a condition is a legal term or triggering event fixed by agreement, not a treatment arm in a study, a requirement in an argument, or a diagnosis in a chart.[2]

Unit

A contractual term or triggering event, ranked by how its breach affects the deal

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Determined by construing the parties' agreement and the term's importance to the bargain