The Review of the Irrevocability of the Letter of Promise in Imamie's Fegh

Before 1978, in Iran the value and validity of the letter of promise was not much doubted by the court judges; but, after Islamic Revolution in Iran, the pacta sunt servanda of fulfilling such contracts has been challenged and discussed. Following the issuance of a circular by the then Judicial High Council, the majority of judges rendered these documents invalid. Thus, the letter of promise was gradually replaced by the letter of sale. Nevertheless, a letter of promise should not be mistaken for an executed letter of sale. In fact, it is a document which guarantees the obligation to fulfill a sale in the future and as an agreement to transfer, it is a sample of primary conditions and is independent of nominated contracts, whose validity is disagreed upon by Shi’ite religious scientists such that majority of jurists consider these conditions invalid and only a few of them have rendered it valid. With consideration of the presented reasons, it seems that the second opinion is more correct and that there exist necessary jurisprudence reasons for accepting the validity of a primary condition and the letter of promise as its important sample.