Recipient’s Liability in Void Contracts

The rules regarding invalid or void contracts are very important in Jurisprudence; because these rules are applicable to all contracts, especially new contracts. Therefore this paper reviews one of the most important rules of invalid contracts, which is the liability of the recipient who receives the property, to conclude whether the recipient in invalid contracts, is liable in case of loss of property, or not.
It seems that the recipient in an invalid contract is definitely liable, and must compensate the loss with equivalent or price of the lost property. All the three reasons brought forward, i.e. “Ala al-Yad”1 Tradition, “Stolen Slave” Tradition and “Ma Yudman”2 Rule, can support liability.
In order to find answers, this paper firstly considers two important viewpoints regarding invalid contracts: them being “Muatat”3 or not; then it explores the liability of the recipient in invalid contracts. Subsequently the reasons stated in words of scholars proving or disproving liability are reviewed and criticisms along with author’s own views are explained.