A contract which is conditional on some fortuitous event.
A term of the civil law.
The Louisiana Civil Code, 2009, at §1912:
"A contract is aleatory when, because of its nature or according to the parties' intent, the performance of either party's obligation, or the extent of the performance, depends on an uncertain event."
Civil law jurist Litvinoff writes:
"Assumption of risk is of the essence of aleatory contracts since in agreements of that kind the performance of either party's obligation, or the extent of performance, depends on an uncertain event."
An example, of an aleatory contract is an insurance contract, where a risk is insured but the event or extent of that risk is, at the time of the insurance contract, uncertain.
French: contrat aléatoire.
REFERENCES:
- Bénabent, A., Droit Civil: les Obligations, 11 Éd. (Paris: Librairie générale de Droit, 2007), page 16.
- Duhaime Lloyd, Civil Law Dictionary
- Litvinoff, S., Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, Volume 5, "The Law of Obligations", 2nd Ed. (WestGroup, 2001)
- Losecco v Gregory 32 So. 985 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1901)
- Southern Surety v MacMillan Co., 58 F. 2 541, at page 549 (Circuit Court of Appeals, Twenth Circuit, 1932)