SALES

A. Definition of sale (Art. 1458)

ART. 1458.

By the contract of sale one of the contracting parties obligates himself to transfer the ownership of
and to deliver a determinate thing, and the other to pay therefor a price certain in money or its
equivalent.

A contract of sale may be absolute or conditional.

(1445a)

The contract of sale is an agreement whereby one of the parties (called the seller or vendor) obligates
himself to deliver something to the other (called the buyer or purchaser or vendee) who, on his part,
binds himself to pay therefor a sum of money or its equivalent (known as the price).

Characteristics of a contract of sale.

The contract of sale is:

(1) Consensual, because it is perfected by mere consent without any further act;

(2) Bilateral,1 because both the contracting parties are bound to fulfill correlative obligations towards
each other — the seller, to deliver and transfer ownership of the thing sold and the buyer,

to pay the price;

(3) Onerous, because the thing sold is conveyed in consideration of the price and vice versa (see Gaite
vs. Fonacier, 2 SCRA 820 [1961].);

(4) Commutative, because the thing sold is considered the equivalent of the price paid and vice versa.
(see Ibid.) However, the contract may be aleatory2 as in the case of the sale of a hope (e.g.,
sweepstakes ticket);

(5) Nominate, because it is given a special name or designation in the Civil Code, namely, “sale”; and

(6) Principal, because it does not depend for its existence and validity upon another contract.