CONFIRMATION, contracts, conveyancing. 1. A contract by which that which
was voidable, is made firm and unavoidable.
2. A species of conveyance.
2. - 1. When a contract has been entered into by a stranger without
authority, he in whose name it has been made may, by his own act, confirm
it; or if the contract be made by the party himself in an informal and
voidable manner, he may in a more formal manner confirm and render it valid;
and in that event it will take effect, as between the parties, from the
original making. To make a valid confirmation, the party must be apprised
of, his rights, and where there has been a fraud in the transaction, he must
be award of it, and intend to confirm his contract. Vide 1 Ball & Beatty,
353; 2 Scho. & Lef. 486; 12 Ves. 373; 1 Ves. Jr. 215; Newl. Contr. 496; 1
Atk. 301; 8 Watts. R. 280.
3. - 2. Lord Coke defines a confirmation of an estate, to be "a
conveyance of an estate or right in esse, whereby a voidable estate is made
sure and unavoidable; or where a particular estate is increased."
4. The first part of this definition may be illustrated by the
following case, put by Littleton, Sec. 516; where a person lets land to
another for the term of his life, who lets the same to another for forty
years, by force of which he is in possession; if the lessor for life
confirms the estate of the tenant for years by deed, and afterwards the
tenant for life dies, during the term; this deed will operate as a
confirmation of the term for years.. As to the latter branch of the
definition; whenever a confirmation operates by way of increasing the
estate, it is similar in every respect to a release that operates by way of
enlargement, for there must be privity of estate, and proper words of
limitation. The proper technical words of a confirmation are, ratify and
confirm; although it is usual and prudent to insert also the words given and
granted. Watk. Prin. Convey. chap. vii.
5. A confirmation does not strengthen a void estate. Confirmatio est
nulla, ubi donum precedens est invalidum, et ubi donatio nulla est nec
valebit confirmatio. For confirmation may make a voidable or defeasible
estate good, but cannot operate on an estate void in law. Co. Litt. 295. The
canon law agrees with this rule, and hence the maxim, qui confirmat nihil
dat. Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. liv. 3, t. 3, c. 6, n. 476. Vide Vin. Ab. h.t.;
Com. Dig. 11. t.; Ayliffe's Pand. *386; 1 Chit. Pr. 315; 3 Gill & John. 290;
3 Yerg. R. 405; Co. Litt. 295; Gilbert on Ten. 75; 1 Breese's R. 236; 9 Co.
142, a; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 2067-9.
6. An infant is said to confirm his acts performed during infancy,
when, after coming to full age, be expressly approves of them, or does acts
from which such confirmation way be implied. Sec Ratification.