Analysis of the Requirements of the Absoluteness of Contract Regarding the Performance Time from the Perspective of Imamia Jurisprudence, Iranian Law and Egyptian Law

The duty to fulfill obligations, specifically those derived from contracts, is an evident principle in law and Islamic jurisprudence, emphasized on in the “fulfill contracts” verse. Many issues arise with respect to this rule and its effects and implications, among which is the time of performance of contractual obligations. Indeed, where the contracting parties have determined the delivery time either expressly or impliedly, the performance time, as a result of pacta sunt servanda is the time agreed upon. In case such time has not been determined by parties, the usage and custom concerning it, if any, shall be obeyed. Otherwise, interpreting the absoluteness of contract as conveying immediate performance may be more famous in the Islamic jurisprudence. In the Iranian Civil Code, in the first case, under articles 10 and 219, in the second case, under articles 220 and 225 and in the third case, under article 334 of the Civil Code, the above said conclusions may be inferred. The Egyptian Civil Code and the Egyptian jurists have the same attitude in such case. However, validity of this construction in the third case and in case of validity, the notion of immediacy are contentious. The purpose of this paper is to study such arguments through a descriptive-analytic method; according to this research, the absoluteness of contract must be understood as leading to obligation to immediate fulfillment after demand.