a watermelon, saying, “I have the option for one week.” This is valid. If there is fear that it may spoil, it is to be sold. Then, if the sale is affirmed, its value belongs to the buyer; but if the sale is rescinded, its value belongs to the seller, and the buyer recovers the price he paid. This is what they have said.
However, there would be grounds for saying that if an option is stipulated regarding something that will spoil before the end of the period, it is invalid. For if it is sold and its value is greater, the buyer will choose to affirm the sale; whereas if its value is lower, he will choose to rescind it. In that case, one of the two parties will suffer harm.
His statement, “Its commencement is from the contract,” means that the option period begins from the contract, because it was stipulated in the contract and thus begins from the contract. Therefore, if the contract is concluded precisely at twelve o’clock, when the sun passes its zenith, and the option is set for one day, it ends at twelve o’clock on the following day.
If it is asked: Should it not be said that it begins from the parties’ separation, since what precedes their separation is established by the Sacred Law, not by stipulation?
The answer is: Rather, it begins from the contract, because there is nothing to prevent two causes from coinciding in respect of one matter. Thus, the period between the contract and the parties’ separation is established both by the Sacred Law and by stipulation, and there is no objection to this.
However, if he says, “I have the option for three days after separation,” then its commencement is from the separation. Even so, if someone were to say, “I have three days from separation,” it may be argued that this is invalid, because the time of separation is unknown; consequently, the period whose beginning is tied to it is unknown. Yet such a matter is overlooked, since separation will generally take place soon.
His statement, “Its commencement is from the contract”: if the option is stipulated after the contract