fthefe circumftances, :in a fubfeq.uent fale ©F profit or offriendjhip, it
be incumbent upon him to make known this matter.— Some have
-laid that fuch notification is incumbent on him, fince an eftablilhed
cuftom is equivalent to a condition.— Others, again, allege that he is
under no neceffity of giving fuch notification, fince it is evident that,
as no condition was ftipulated, the fale was therefore for prompt
payment.
'In a fale o f
f iendfi/ip the
rate mull be
.Specified,;
and the pur-
chafer has a
right o f option
until
after the fpe-
cification.
If a perfon difpofe of a thing to another by a fale of friendjhip
declaring that “ he fells it to him at the rate it had flood him in,” -—
and the purchafer be not acquainted with that rate, the fale is invalid,
from the uncertainty with regard to the price:— if, however, the
feller fhould afterwards inform the purchafer of the rate, at the fame
meeting, the fale then becomes valid, but it ftill remains in the option
of the purchafer to abide by or recede from the contradt as he
pleafes, fince the acquiefcence he had before expreffed was not fully
eftablifhed, from his ignorance of the price, and after the knowledge
of it he has an option, in the fame manner as in the cafe of an option
of infpedtion. The reafon of the validity of this fale is that the invalidity
does not become firmly eftablifhed until the departure o f the
parties from the meeting.— When, therefore, the purchafer, in the
meeting, is informed of the price, it becomes the fame as i f a new
contract had taken place after the purchafer had acquired this knowledge
; and it is for him to withhold his acquiefcence until the end of
the meeting.— If, however, the parties fhould feparate, the invalidity
then becomes fixed; nor can it be removed by any knowledge which
the purchafer may afterwards obtain o f the amount of the price.—
Similar to this is the cafe where a perfon fells cloth for the value
which is marked upon it, but of which the purchafer is ignorant;
for fuch fale is invalid, but may be rendered otherwife by the explanation
of the feller, before the breaking up of the meeting.
3 iSEC T IO N .
S E C T I O N .
I t is not lawful for a perfon to fell moveable property, which he
may have purchafed, until he receive poffeffipn of the fame; becaufe
the prophet has prohibited the fale of a thing prior to the feizin of it on
the part of t’he fe'ller; and. aifo, becaufe there is,an unfairnefs in it,
fince, if the merchandife fhould be loft or defttoyed before the feizin,
the firft fale becomes1 null, and the property reverts to the former
proprietor,- in which cafe it muft neceffarily appear that the perfon in
queftiondias fold the property of another without his confent.
T h e fale of land*, previous to feizin, is lawful, according to
Haneefa and Aboo Yoofaf. Mohammed maintains that it is unlawful;
becaufe the traditional faying of the prophet before quoted is abf&lute,
and not particularly confined to moveable property; and alfo, becaufe
of its -analogy to moveable property. Befides, the fale o f land is fimilar
to the hire of i t ; ill other words, as it is unlawful to let land before
feizin; fo is it likewife to fe ll land' before feizin. The reafoning of
the two difciples is that, in the cafe in queftion, the fale is efFedted by
competent parties with refpedt to a fit fubjedt;— that there is no unfairnefs
in it, fince the deftrudtion of ground is rare, whereas that of
moveable property is p r o b a b le and that the prohibition of the prophet
is founded on the poffibility of the unfairnefs already explained,
which does not exift in the cafe of land, the deftrudtion of it being
rare.— Some have aflerted that a leafe o f land before feizin, as adduced
by Mohammed, is lawful in the opinion of the two difciples.—
Admitting, however, that it were unlawful according to all our doc-
* Arab. Akkar', meaning any fpecies o f immoveable property. TAmeen is the term
ufed in the P erjic veriion, whence the tranllator renders it land.
V ol. II. Q jq q tors,
Mo-vtablepra-
perty cannot
be re-fold
before feizin:
but land may
be rè-fold
•previous to
feizin by the
firft purchafer.