the contract remains in force except by mutual agreement. If the contract is dissolved, however, the profit is divided, because it has come to an end. But while the contract remains in force, the profit is not divided except by mutual agreement, because the profit serves as a safeguard for the capital.
The working partner may say, “Divide it now, for I fear that if I trade with it again, I may incur a loss.” He therefore requests a division so that he will not suffer a loss. For example, he may say, “The capital has now yielded a profit of ten percent, so let us divide it, because I fear that if I trade a second time, I will incur a loss rather than make a profit, and the working partner’s labor will come to nothing and be of no benefit.”
But the capital owner says, “Let us not divide it. If you now purchase with ten thousand, that will be less than if you purchase with eleven thousand, and the profit is still ongoing. If you purchase with eleven thousand, the profit will be greater than if you purchase with ten thousand.”
Thus, the working partner cannot compel the capital owner to divide the profit, because the contract remains in force. The same applies in the reverse case: if the capital owner requests a division of the profit so that he may take the profit on his capital while the other takes the profit of his labor, but the working partner says, “Let us not divide it. The profit is secure, and if we profit from eleven thousand, it will be greater than if we profit from ten thousand. I do not want a division,” then we say: yes, it is not to be divided while the contract remains in force.
In summary, so long as the contract remains in force, if either party requests a division of the profit, it is not divided except by their mutual agreement, because the right belongs to them both.
His statement, “If the capital, or part of it, is destroyed after trading has begun, or if a loss occurs, it is to be made good out of the profit before the profit is divided or the venture’s assets are liquidated”: if the capital is destroyed, there are two possible cases: either it occurs before trading has begun, or after it has begun.