As it is clearly stipulated under Article 1757 of the civil code a party can only require the other party to perform his obligation when and only when he has performed or has offered to perform his obligations. 

A suit initiated in the Northern Amhara High Court affirms the above .The suit was between the plaintiff Mr. Shenkute T/Mariam and the defendant Ato Gebre gonta. The content of the suit was that the plaintiff has sold a car, via an agent, for 50,000 birr. The defendant paid 19,000 birr hence the car was transferred to his possession. But the defendant refused to pay the rest of the money and transfer the title to his name. 

The defendant on his statement of defense stated that in their contract the plaintiff promised to repair the cambio/gear shift problem the car had. Hence since the plaintiff did not fulfill his part of the obligation he had no right to claim for the rest of the money. 

The court after analyzing the arguments of both parties stated that the plaintiff didn’t perform his part of the obligation and hence his claim for payment of the rest of the money is not in accordance with the law. On appeal the Federal High Court rejected the claim based on Article 337 of the Civil Procedure Code. 

The suit was then appealed to the cassation bench. The bench has analyzed the facts in light of the relevant laws. In the parties contract of sale it is clearly indicated that the car had in fact cambio/gear shift problems and that the plaintiff had enforced an obligation to repair the problems. But the plaintiff did not provide the court with the evidence that he has in fact repaired the cambio/gear shift and fulfilled his obligation there of. The mere fact that the car is in the defendants hand doesn’t prove this point. 

Therefore, the court enforced the decision of lower courts since the plaintiff did not show he has fulfilled his end of the bargain. 

Thus, one can grasp that before any party demands the other party to fulfill his obligation, he has to first prove the fact that he has performed or has offered to perform his obligations.

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