Contingent Substitute Contract in French and Iranian Law: A Comparative Analysis of the Foundations, Effects, and Challenges in the Light of the 2016 Reforms of the French Civil Code

Harati, Mostafa

doi:10.48311/clr.2026.118524.82801

Contingent Substitute Contract in French and Iranian Law: A Comparative Analysis of the Foundations, Effects, and Challenges in the Light of the 2016 Reforms of the French Civil Code

Articles in Press

Document Type : مقالات علمی پژوهشی

Author

Mostafa Harati

Assistant Professor, Department of Private Law, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

10.48311/clr.2026.118524.82801

Abstract

The aleatory synallagmatic contract is a specific category of bilateral agreements in which the extent or even existence of each party’s obligations depends on the occurrence of a future uncertain event. Rooted in Article 1108 of the French Civil Code and its doctrinal and legal equivalents in Iranian law, this characteristic assigns a distinct role to the evaluation of the contractual equilibrium at the time of conclusion. The 2016 reform of the French Civil Code, alongside a revision of general contract rules, clarified the definition and status of this institution, and established its links with contractual freedom, economic balance, and nullity. In Iranian law, despite the absence of an explicit statutory term, general contractual rules, Islamic jurisprudential principles such as La Darar (no harm) and Gharar (uncertainty), and specific regulations governing insurance and wagering create a comparable—though not perfectly aligned—framework.

Keywords

Risk transfer

Contractual balance

Aleatory synallagmatic contract

French law

Contractual risk

Subjects