CONFIRMATION

A contract by which that which was voidable is made firm and unavoidable. A species of conveyance.

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 aware of it and intend to confirm his contract.

A confirmation of an estate is said 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.'

The first part of this definition may be illustrated by the following case 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.

A confirmation does not strengthen a void estate. For confirmation may make a voidable or defeasible estate good, but cannot operate on an estate void in law. The canon law agrees with this rule and hence the maxim, qui confirmat nihil dat.

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.