A principle in Civil Law, which holds that indemnity for damages, may be granted in

cases where there is an abuse of rights. A person should be protected only when he
acts in the legitimate exercise of his right, that is, when he acts with prudence and
in good faith; but not when he acts with negligence or abuse. Such principle is found
in the Chapter on Human Relations in the Civil Code.
Through the principle in Art.19, Civil Code, he incurs in liability who, acting under
the aegis of a legal right and an apparently valid exercise of the same, oversteps
the bounds or, limitations imposed on the right by equity and good faith thereby
causing damage to another or to society. The abusive act is simply that which,
performed in accordance with a subjective right whose limits have been respected,
is nevertheless contrary to the right considered in general and as the sum total of
all obligatory laws. There is abuse of right when the right is exercised with the end
of damaging another as well as when damage results when the legitimate motive
and normal end of the right is violated as in the case of an abnormal exercise of the
right.
If the purpose is evil or not serious or legitimate, or the manner of exercise of the
right is abnormal and damage is caused to another, then there is an abuse of right
for which damages are recoverable.