Standard Perpetuity Clause

"Standard perpetuity clause, I'm afraid. Always read the fine print."

- Lilah Morgan

Standard Perpetuity Clause is a clause in contracts between Wolfram & Hart and its employees, particularly high-ranking ones. It states that their service to the firm extends beyond their deaths, unless the employee in question is terminated by the firm itself. The Senior Partners employ this clause in order to keep valuable players under their thumb for eternity.

Destruction of a contract by physical means, such as fire, doesn't release the employee from the Clause's effects, as contracts are magically recreated. Only the Senior Partners themselves can release someone.

Known Cases

 * Holland Manners: Holland was killed by Darla during the massacre at his wine cellar. While his position within the firm was filled by other individuals such as Lilah Morgan and Nathan Reed, Holland was reanimated and placed at the service of the Senior Partners. One of his tasks involved operating an elevator to give Angel a ride to the firm's Home Office, in order to break his spirit by showing him the source of W&H's power: the evil within every human being.


 * Lilah Morgan: Lilah was killed by Jasmine and her body beheaded by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce as Angel Investigations feared she could've been bitten by Angelus, whom they believed to be the culprit. Even though Lilah's body was placed at the incinerator, she was reanimated, keeping only the beheading scar, which she hid underneath a scar. Lilah returned to offer the Angel Investigations staff the chance to take over the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart. Wesley attempted to release Lilah from her contract and give her some peace by destroying the document, but it wasn't enough, as the contract was instantly recreated.


 * Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: Even though he had been murdered by Cyvus Vial during a revolt against the Senior Partners, Wesley was selected by them to serve as Angel's new Liaison to the Senior Partners, replacing the dead Marcus Hamilton, after the city of Los Angeles was sent to hell. Unlike the case of Holland and Lilah, the Senior Partners knew Wesley would not submit to their will, so they kept him as a ghost, unable to physically interact with the world, while his body was kept elsewhere.

Appearances

 * "Reprise"
 * "Home"
 * "Angel: After the Fall"