CONDITION, a stipulation, agreement. (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange ; not connected with conditio from condere, conditum, to put together.) The term is applied technically to any circumstance, action or event which is regarded as the indispensable requisite of some other circumstance, action, or event. It is also applied generally to the sum of the circum stances in which a person is situated, and more specifically to fa vourable or prosperous circumstances ; thus a person of wealth or birth is described as a "person of condition," or an athlete as being "in condition," i.e., physically fit, having gone through the necessary course of preliminary training. In all these senses there is implicit the idea of limitation or restraint imppsed with a view to the attainment of a particular end.
(I.) In Logic the term "condition" is closely related to "cause" in so far as it is applied to prior events, etc., in the absence of which another event, called the effect, would not take place. It is, however, different from "cause," inasmuch as a cause usually consists of a multiplicity of conditions each of which is indispen sable, but only the totality of which is adequate to the produc tion of the effect. It is customary to distinguish between positive and negative conditions. Positive conditions are those which ac tually contribute something to the result : negative conditions con sist in the absence of whatever may frustrate or modify the effect in question. Thus light, warmth, and moisture are each a positive condition of the healthy growth of a plant ; the absence of wire worms and other pests, on the other hand, would be called a negative condition.
Assertions concerning the relation between conditions and re sults are called conditional assertions (judgments or propositions). They are of two main types known as Hypothetical and disjunctive respectively. In the hypothetical assertion this condition is usu ally contained explicitly in the antecedent, and the result in the consequent. Thus, e.g., if the temperature of a metal is raised, its volume is increased, (or generally if A, then C, i.e., if a certain antecedent is true, a certain consequent is true). In the disjunc tive assertion the condition is implicit rather than explicit, but still it is there. Thus, e.g., either the volume of a metal remains the same or its temperature has changed (or generally either Ai or A2, i.e., alternative Ai or alternative A2 is true). But this means if the temperature of a metal has not changed, its volume remains the same (or generally if not A2, then AI, or vice versa).
(2.) In Philosophy the above uses of the term condition have led to the contrast between "conditioned" and "absolute" being (or "dependent" versus "independent" being). Thus all finite things exist in certain relations not only to all other things, but possibly also to thought ; in other words, all finite existence is "conditioned." Hence Sir Wm. Hamilton speaks of the "philoso phy of the unconditioned," i.e., of thought in distinction to things which are determined by thought in relation to other things (see ABSOLUTE). An analogous distinction is made (cf. H. W. B. Joseph, Introduction to Logic, pp. 38o, foll.) between the so-called universal laws of nature and conditional principles which, though they are regarded as having the force of law, are yet dependent or derivative, i.e., cannot be treated as universal truths. Such prin ciples hold good under present conditions, but other conditions might be imagined under which they would be invalid; they hold good only as corollaries from the laws of nature under existing conditions.
(3.) In Law, condition in its general sense is a restraint annexed to a thing, so that by the non-performance the party to it shall receive prejudice and loss, and by the performance commodity or advantage. Conditions may be either (I) condition in a deed or express condition, i.e., the condition being expressed in actual words; or (2) condition in law or implied condition, i.e., where, although no condition is actually expressed, the law implies a con dition. The word is also used indifferently to mean either the event upon the happening of which some estate or obligation is to begin or end, or the provision or stipulation that the estate or obligation will depend upon the happening of the event. A condi tion may be of several kinds: (I) a condition precedent, where, for example, an estate is granted to one for life upon condition that, if the grantee pay the grantor a certain sum on such a day he shall have the fee simple ; a condition subsequent, where, for example, an estate is granted in fee upon condition that the grantee shall pay a certain sum on a certain day, or that his estate shall cease. Thus a condition precedent gets or gains, while a con dition subsequent keeps and continues. A condition may also be affirmative, that is, the doing of an act ; negative, the not doing of an. act ; restrictive, compulsory, etc. The word is also used ad jectivally in the sense set out above, as in the phrases "conditional legacy," "conditional limitation," "conditional promise," etc., that is, the legacy, the limitation, the promise' is to take effect only upon the happening of a certain event.