Condition vs. Stipulation — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Fiza Rafique — Updated on March 13, 2024
Condition typically refers to a specific requirement or state affecting a situation or agreement, while stipulation is a detailed condition or requirement explicitly stated in a legal agreement.
Difference Between Condition and Stipulation
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A condition often describes the prerequisites necessary for an event to occur or an agreement to be valid. It sets the groundwork for actions or agreements, emphasizing their contingent nature. Whereas, stipulation serves as a detailed specification within legal contracts, focusing on clarity and precision in defining terms and obligations.
Conditions play a crucial role in various contexts, such as contracts, where they determine the circumstances under which obligations become binding. On the other hand, stipulations are specifically crafted clauses in agreements or contracts that explicitly outline terms, responsibilities, and exceptions, providing a clear framework for understanding and compliance.
While conditions can be more general and applied broadly across different scenarios, stipulations are tailored to fit the specific needs and agreements of the parties involved. This specificity in stipulations helps prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding in legal documents and agreements.
In real estate, a condition might refer to the state or quality of a property that affects its value or suitability for purchase. Whereas, a stipulation in the same context would detail the terms under which a sale could proceed, such as necessary repairs or adjustments to the sale price.
In legal terms, a condition could be a contingency in a contract that must be met for the contract to be enforceable. Stipulation, however, is often used to refer to agreed-upon terms that define specific aspects of the contract, such as payment schedules or delivery deadlines, highlighting their roles in ensuring contractual clarity and enforceability.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A prerequisite for something else to happen.
A specific term or requirement in an agreement.
Context
Broad, applicable in various scenarios.
Primarily legal or contractual contexts.
Purpose
To set criteria for action or validity.
To specify terms clearly and precisely.
Flexibility
Can be more general or flexible.
Tends to be detailed and specific.
Role in Agreements
Determines when agreements are binding.
Defines terms, responsibilities, exceptions.
Compare with Definitions
Condition
A situation that must exist before something else is possible.
One condition for the trip is having enough funds.
Stipulation
A formal statement or condition in a legal document.
The lawyer emphasized the stipulation regarding the client's rights.
Condition
A stipulation that affects or limits the scope of something.
The grant comes with the condition that the funds are used for research.
Stipulation
A condition or requirement specified in a legal context.
The settlement included a stipulation for damages to be paid.
Condition
A prerequisite for another event to occur.
The job offer was contingent upon the condition of passing a background check.
Stipulation
A clause that specifies the terms of an agreement.
The contract's stipulation outlined the penalties for late payments.
Condition
Terms affecting the operation of a contract or agreement.
The contract's conditions included timely payments.
Stipulation
An agreed-upon term between parties.
The stipulation about confidentiality was crucial for the agreement.
Condition
The state of something with regard to its appearance, quality, or working order.
The buyer inspected the condition of the house before purchase.
Stipulation
A specific requirement in a contract.
The stipulation for timely delivery was non-negotiable.
Condition
The state of something with regard to its appearance, quality, or working order
The wiring is in good condition
The bridge is in an extremely dangerous condition
Stipulation
In United States law, a stipulation is a formal legal acknowledgment and agreement made between opposing parties before a pending hearing or trial. For example, both parties might stipulate to certain facts and so not have to argue them in court.
Condition
The circumstances or factors affecting the way in which people live or work, especially with regard to their well-being
Harsh working conditions
Stipulation
The act of stipulating.
Condition
A situation that must exist before something else is possible or permitted
All personnel should comply with this policy as a condition of employment
For a member to borrow money, three conditions have to be met
Stipulation
Something specified or agreed to, as in a contract.
Condition
Have a significant influence on or determine (the manner or outcome of something)
National choices are conditioned by the international political economy
Stipulation
The document or agreement, or a provision in a document or agreement, specifying something that is agreed to.
Condition
Bring (something) into the desired state for use
A product for conditioning leather
Stipulation
The act of stipulating; a contracting or bargaining; an agreement.
Condition
Apply a conditioner to (the hair)
I condition my hair regularly
Stipulation
Something that is stated or stipulated as a condition of an agreement.
The stipulations of the contract won't allow you to do that.
If I lend you my car, my only stipulation is that you fill up the gas tank before returning it.
Condition
Set prior requirements on (something) before it can occur or be done
Congressmen have sought to limit and condition military and economic aid
Stipulation
(botany) The situation, arrangement, and structure of the stipules.
Condition
A mode or state of being
We bought a used boat in excellent condition.
Stipulation
(chess) A goal to be achieved in a chess problem; for example, to checkmate Black within a specified number of moves.
Condition
Conditions Existing circumstances
Economic conditions have improved. The news reported the latest weather conditions.
Stipulation
The act of stipulating; a contracting or bargaining; an agreement.
Condition
(Archaic) Social position; rank.
Stipulation
That which is stipulated, or agreed upon; that which is definitely arranged or contracted; an agreement; a covenant; a contract or bargain; also, any particular article, item, or condition, in a mutual agreement; as, the stipulations of the allied powers to furnish each his contingent of troops.
Condition
A state of health
Has the patient's condition deteriorated?.
Stipulation
A material article of an agreement; an undertaking in the nature of bail taken in the admiralty courts; a bargain.
Condition
A state of physical fitness
Have you exercised enough to get back into condition?.
Stipulation
The situation, arrangement, and structure of the stipules.
Condition
A disease or physical ailment
A heart condition.
Stipulation
(law) an agreement or concession made by parties in a judicial proceeding (or by their attorneys) relating to the business before the court; must be in writing unless they are part of the court record;
A stipulation of fact was made in order to avoid delay
Condition
One that is indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; a prerequisite
Compatibility is a condition of a successful marriage.
Stipulation
An assumption on which rests the validity or effect of something else
Condition
One that restricts or modifies another; a qualification
I'll make you a promise but with one condition.
Stipulation
A restriction that is insisted upon as a condition for an agreement
Condition
(Grammar) The dependent clause of a conditional sentence; protasis.
Condition
(Logic) A proposition on which another proposition depends; the antecedent of a conditional proposition.
Condition
A provision making the effect of a legal instrument contingent on the occurrence of an uncertain future event.
Condition
The event itself.
Condition
To make dependent on a condition or conditions
Use of the cabin is conditioned on your keeping it clean.
Condition
To stipulate as a condition
“He only conditioned that the marriage should not take place before his return” (Jane Austen).
Condition
To cause to be in a certain condition; shape or influence
“Our modern conceptions of historiography [are] conditioned by Western intellectual traditions” (Carol Meyers).
Condition
To accustom (oneself or another) to something; adapt
Had to condition herself to long hours of hard work.
Conditioned the troops to marches at high altitudes.
Condition
To render fit for work or use
Spent weeks conditioning the old car.
Condition
To improve the physical fitness of (the body, for example), as through repeated sessions of strenuous physical activity.
Condition
(Psychology) To cause (an organism) to respond in a specific manner to a previously unrelated stimulus, as in operant conditioning or classical conditioning.
Condition
To treat (the air in a room, for example) by air-conditioning.
Condition
To replace moisture or oils in (hair, for example) by use of a therapeutic product.
Condition
A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
Condition
A requirement or requisite.
Environmental protection is a condition for sustainability.
What other planets might have the right conditions for life?
The union had a dispute over sick time and other conditions of employment.
Condition
(law) A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.
Condition
The health status of a medical patient.
My aunt couldn’t walk up the stairs in her condition.
Condition
A certain abnormal state of health; a malady or sickness.
Condition
The state or quality.
National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.
The condition of man can be classified as civilized or uncivilized.
Condition
A particular state of being.
Hypnosis is a peculiar condition of the nervous system.
Steps were taken to ameliorate the condition of slavery.
Security is defined as the condition of not being threatened.
Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.
Condition
(obsolete) The situation of a person or persons, particularly their social and/or economic class, rank.
A man of his condition has no place to make requests.
Condition
To subject to the process of acclimation.
I became conditioned to the absence of seasons in San Diego.
Condition
To subject to different conditions, especially as an exercise.
They were conditioning their shins in their karate class.
Condition
To make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled; to make conditional on.
Condition
(transitive) To place conditions or limitations upon.
Condition
To shape the behaviour of someone to do something.
The children were conditioned to speak up if they had any disagreements.
Condition
(transitive) To treat (the hair) with hair conditioner.
Condition
(transitive) To contract; to stipulate; to agree.
Condition
(transitive) To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
Condition
To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college.
To condition a student who has failed in some branch of study
Condition
To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
Condition
Mode or state of being; state or situation with regard to external circumstances or influences, or to physical or mental integrity, health, strength, etc.; predicament; rank; position, estate.
I am in my conditionA prince, Miranda; I do think, a king.
And O, what man's condition can be worseThan his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
The new conditions of life.
Condition
Essential quality; property; attribute.
It seemed to us a condition and property of divine powers and beings to be hidden and unseen to others.
Condition
Temperament; disposition; character.
The condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil.
Condition
That which must exist as the occasion or concomitant of something else; that which is requisite in order that something else should take effect; an essential qualification; stipulation; terms specified.
I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning.
Many are apt to believe remission of sins, but they believe it without the condition of repentance.
Condition
A clause in a contract, or agreement, which has for its object to suspend, to defeat, or in some way to modify, the principal obligation; or, in case of a will, to suspend, revoke, or modify a devise or bequest. It is also the case of a future uncertain event, which may or may not happen, and on the occurrence or non-occurrence of which, the accomplishment, recission, or modification of an obligation or testamentary disposition is made to depend.
Condition
To make terms; to stipulate.
Pay me back my credit,And I'll condition with ye.
Condition
To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
To think of a thing is to condition.
Condition
To invest with, or limit by, conditions; to burden or qualify by a condition; to impose or be imposed as the condition of.
Seas, that daily gain upon the shore,Have ebb and flow conditioning their march.
Condition
To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college; as, to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study.
Condition
To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
Condition
Train; acclimate.
Condition
A state at a particular time;
A condition (or state) of disrepair
The current status of the arms negotiations
Condition
A mode of being or form of existence of a person or thing;
The human condition
Condition
An assumption on which rests the validity or effect of something else
Condition
(usually plural) a statement of what is required as part of an agreement;
The contract set out the conditions of the lease
The terms of the treaty were generous
Condition
The state of (good) health (especially in the phrases `in condition' or `in shape' or `out of condition' or `out of shape')
Condition
Information that should be kept in mind when making a decision;
Another consideration is the time it would take
Condition
The procedure that is varied in order to estimate a variable's effect by comparison with a control condition
Condition
Establish a conditioned response
Condition
Train by instruction and practice; especially to teach self-control;
Parents must discipline their children
Is this dog trained?
Condition
Specify as a condition or requirement in a contract or agreement; make an express demand or provision in an agreement;
The will stipulates that she can live in the house for the rest of her life
The contract stipulates the dates of the payments
Condition
Put into a better state;
He conditions old cars
Condition
Apply conditioner to in order to make smooth and shiny;
I condition my hair after washing it
Common Curiosities
How does a stipulation affect a contract?
A stipulation specifies terms and requirements within a contract, ensuring parties understand their obligations and rights.
How do conditions affect property sales?
Conditions can dictate terms under which a property sale can proceed, such as requiring a home inspection.
What is a condition in legal terms?
A condition in legal terms refers to a specific situation or event that must occur before a contract or agreement becomes binding.
Can stipulations be modified after a contract is signed?
Stipulations can be modified if all parties agree to the changes and amend the contract accordingly.
How are conditions determined in a contract?
Conditions are determined through negotiations between parties, considering the nature of the agreement and legal requirements.
Can a condition be a stipulation?
While a condition can be considered a stipulation when it is explicitly stated in a contract, stipulations are generally more detailed and specific.
Can a condition be implied in a contract?
Yes, conditions can be implied based on the nature of the agreement or legal principles, even if not explicitly stated.
What role do stipulations play in agreements?
Stipulations clarify the specific terms, duties, and rights within agreements, helping prevent disputes.
Are conditions and stipulations enforceable in court?
Yes, both conditions and stipulations are enforceable in court, provided they are clear, agreed upon by all parties, and legally valid.
What happens if a condition in a contract is not met?
If a condition is not met, the contract may become void or unenforceable, depending on the condition's nature and terms.
Is it necessary for a contract to have conditions?
While not every contract must have conditions, they are crucial for specifying the terms under which agreements are valid.
Why are stipulations important in legal documents?
Stipulations provide clarity and specificity in legal documents, outlining obligations clearly to avoid ambiguity.
What is the difference between a condition precedent and a stipulation?
A condition precedent must be met before a contract becomes effective, while a stipulation defines specific terms within the contract.
How specific should stipulations be?
Stipulations should be as specific as possible to ensure clear understanding and enforceability.
How does a breach of stipulation affect a contract?
A breach of stipulation can lead to legal actions, penalties, or the contract's termination, depending on the agreement's terms.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
