Contract Lapse Due to Untimely Notification of Condition Precedent Fulfillment

A dispute arose concerning the validity of a contract of sale that was subject to a condition precedent, specifically the obtaining of an administrative authorization, and where the purchaser failed to notify the seller of the authorization's receipt within the stipulated timeframe, leading the seller to consider the sale definitively lapsed. The court of cassation quashed the lower court's decision, reasoning that the failure to respect the deadline for notifying the fulfillment of a suspensive condition, when the condition itself was fulfilled, only allows the party who set the deadline to request termination of the contract, but does not automatically render the contract void unless the contract expressly provided for automatic nullity upon non-observance of the notification period, thus implying that the contractual lapse requires action rather than being automatic.