Short answer. No. Article 1183 provides that impossible conditions, those contrary to good customs or public policy, and those prohibited by law annul the obligation which depends upon them. A promise to pay you for falsifying a document is unenforceable, and the falsification remains a crime regardless.

What the law says

Impossible conditions, those contrary to good customs or public policy and those prohibited by law shall annul the obligation which depends upon them. If the obligation is divisible, that part thereof which is not affected by the impossible or unlawful condition shall be valid.

Civil Code, Article 1183 — Impossible and Unlawful Conditions. Read the full provision →

The condition kills the obligation with it

Article 1183 provides that Impossible conditions, those contrary to good customs or public policy and those prohibited by law shall annul the obligation which depends upon them. If the obligation is divisible, that part thereof which is not affected by the impossible or unlawful condition shall be valid. Note what is annulled: not just the condition, but the obligation resting on it. You cannot strike out the unlawful clause and keep the promise to pay as though it stood alone. The exception is divisibility — where the agreement has parts that stand independently of the tainted condition, those survive.

The cause is usually unlawful too

An illegal condition rarely travels alone. Article 1352 provides that contracts without cause, or with unlawful cause, produce no effect whatever, and that the cause is unlawful if contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy. Article 1409 lists among contracts inexistent and void from the beginning those whose cause, object or purpose is contrary to law or public policy, and adds that such contracts cannot be ratified. So an arrangement whose whole point is to procure a falsified document is void from the start — not merely voidable, and not saved by both parties having gone along with it willingly.

Neither side can sue on it

The practical sting is that voidness cuts both ways. A party who performed an illegal bargain cannot come to court for the price, and a party who paid cannot generally get the money back either; the law leaves the parties where it finds them where both are at fault. Article 1411 is where that is worked out for contracts with a criminal cause. So the person who did the falsifying has no claim for payment, and the person who paid has no claim for a refund — while the criminal exposure of both remains untouched by anything the contract says.

Read the clause before assuming the worst

Not every awkward condition is unlawful. A condition requiring a permit, a clearance or a certification is lawful even if obtaining it is difficult; what makes a condition unlawful is that performing it would break the law or offend public policy. Article 1183's last sentence handles the mirror image: a condition not to do an impossible thing is considered as not having been agreed upon, so the obligation stands without it. If a counterparty is pressing you toward something you think is illegal, say so in writing, stop performing, and take the contract and the messages to counsel before either side does more.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.