21 January 2020

5 SOURCES OF OBLIGATION
 Sources are exclusive

QUASI-CONTRACT
 Obligation arises out of a lawful, unilateral, voluntary (LUV) act
 Objective: to prevent unjust enrichment
 Several forms recognized in our civil code however the enumeration is not exclusive
 Two most known:
o Negotiorum gestio – an inofficious manager (“gestio” voluntarily assumes the
management or agency of a business of another person
 Requisites:
 Voluntary management of property or business belonging to
another
 That property or business must be neglected or abandoned
o If the property or business is not neglected or abandoned
then it becomes an unauthorized contract
 No consent, either express or implied
o Otherwise if the owner consented, it becomes a contract
o If the owner knew but did not do anything, it would be an
implied agency
 The assumption of the management and agency must be done in
good faith
o Purpose: to come to the aid of someone – not to profit
from that situation
o Not gratuitous – still expects reimbursement of expenses
 Obligations:
o Gestor – continues managing or agency of the business
until the termination of its affairs or incidents
o Owner – reimburses or indemnifies
 If the owner reappears, the obligation of the gestio continues,
unless the gestio proves that the owner is in a position to take
over
 Q: If gestio wil be entering into contracts with others in the
performance of his duties, who will be liable for those obligations
arising from those contracts?
o A: the gestio
o GR: the third person and the owner do not have a cause of
action between each other
o EXP: if the owner ratifies the contract, or if the property is
of the owner
o Solutio Indebiti – something is paid or delivered by mistake
  One who made the delivery had no obligation to make such and
recipient has no right to receive what was delivered
 Delivery is without legal or just cause
 Reason must be by mistake: by mistake of fact, not law
 XPN: mistake of law may become solution indebiti only when it is
a mistake in relation to a doubtful or difficult provision of law
 In rem verso – something delivered without just or legal cause; if the
cause of the mistake is a mistake of law; or there is no mistake at all
 Similarities:
o The plaintiff suffers a loss
o The defendant was correspondingly enriched
o The enrichment of the defendant is not justified since the
payment to him is without legal or just cause
o There is an obligation to return what has been unduly
delivered or paid
o The person has a right to recover
o The purpose to create the obligation to return is unjust
enrichment
 For an accion in rem verson to prosper, the plaintiff must have no
remedy under contract, quasi-contract, delict, quasi-delict – the
source of an accion in rem verso is CONTRACT
 In solution indebiti, the source of obligation is quasi-contract
o Q: in SI would the debtor be liable for interest?
 Yes – if he acted in bad faith
 No – if he acted in good faith
o Q: What is the nature of that interest?
 Not based on loan or forbearance of money

DELICT
 Two kinds:
o Criminal liability
o Civil liability
 Not all crimes will give rise to civil liability
 There are crimes that do not have a private offended party
 The source of civil liability is that there is a private offended party who
has suffered damages
o In every commission of a crime – so long as there is a private offended party –
crime will be a source of obligation
o Q: What if the effect of conviction?
 A: aside from criminal liability, there is civil liability to indemnify the
victim, but will the reverse be true?
o Q: What if the accused is acquitted?
 A: it will depend on the nature of acquittal
  Acquittal that the accused did not commit the crime
 Acquittal is based on the fact that there is reasonable doubt –
guilt of the accused can still be proven with respect to the civil
aspect of the case
o Quantum of evidence for civil obligations is lower (just
needs preponderance of evidence)
o Still there must be causal connection for the accused to be
civilly liable – still needs to be proven that he committed
the crime
o If the civil aspect is tried with the criminal aspect, and the accused was convicted,
the court will automatically impose civil liability, but if the accused will appeal the
judgment of conviction, the liability is not yet final
o If the accused appeals the judgment when the judgment is not yet final, the
accused dies – the criminal liability is extinguished (
 People vs. Bayotas – upon the death of the accused during the pendency
of the appeal, it is not only his criminal liability which will be extinguished
but also the civil liability based on the crime
 If the criminal action is considered terminated and closed, there
will be no more basis for the civil liability
 It is only the civil liability arising from the crime that will be
extinguished
 If the act or omission committed by the accused will also be a
source of obligation but based on some other sources: the other
sources such as quasi-delict is not extinguished upon death of the
accused
o Q: If the same act or omission can also be a source of obligation based on quasi-
delict, what will happen to the period for prescriptive period based on quasi-
delict?
 With respect to the civil action based on other sources other than the
crime, during the pendency of the appeal, the prescriptive period for other
sources is interrupted

QUASI-DELICT
 An unlawful act or omission that resulted to injury to another
 Act is voluntary, unlawful
 Requisites
o Plaintiff suffers an injury
o Defendant commits an act or omission due to fault or negligence
o Causal connection between the injury suffered and the act or omission by the
defendant
o Act or omission of defendant must be the proximate cause of the injury of the
defendant
 Not necessarily due to negligence
  Spanish: quasi-delict = culpa aquiliana
 American concept of torts: tort is intentional, deliberate act
 Quasi-delict can be done through negligence

Crime Quasi-delict
There is criminal and civil liability Purely civil liability

In both:
 There is injury
 There is an act causing injury
 There is a causal connection
 It must be the proximate cause

Garcia vs Barredo
 A carretela that hit someone and the person died
 Instead of recovering based on the crime, can one recover under quasi-delict
 The scope of QD is broader
 Same negligent act gives rise to two distinct sources of obligation: delict and quas-delict

Q: What if the crime was committed intentionally? May that same intentional criminal act be a
source of obligation based on quasi-delict

Elcano vs Gil
 Crime of homicide: yes, scope of quasi-delict also covers acts or omissions criminal in
character, whether intentionally, criminally or negligently
 In any crime, so long as there is a private offended party – one delict, the other delict
 Art. 2117 – law prohibits plaintiff from recovering twice if the source is the same act or
omission – Prohibition on Double Recovery

People vs. Bayotas

 Upon the death of the accused during the pendency of the appeal, there is only civil
liability which is not extinguished during the pendency of the appeal

 Art. 2176 – GR: If there is a previous contractual relation between the parties, there can
be no quasi-delict, the
o XPN: Airfrance vs Carrascoso – even if there is a previous contractual relation
between parties: there can be a quasi-delict if the act that breaks the contract is
itself a tort, there can be a case for quasi-delict
Scenario: Taxi driver hit and killed a person. What are the sources of obligation and who are
the persons liable?

Source Who is liable? Notes

Delict Taxi driver is primarily liable Owner is subsidiarily liable if
employee is insolvent
Contract Owner is liable The contract of carriage is
between the owner and the
passenger
Quasi-Delict Driver - due to driver’s
negligence

Employer is also guilty of

employee’s negligence, in
selecting and supervising his
employee (vicarious liability)

 If the victim/heirs sues owner and driver jointly, they are solidarily liable as joint
tortfeasors
o It is only in QD that employee and employer can be solidarily liable as joint
tortfeasors for their respective negligence

How to make employer liable?

 Must prove that he is indeed the employer
 That the employee was performing an assigned task
o The presumed liability will attach

Registered Owner Rule

 If in the operation of a motor vehicle, death or injury will be caused, the registered owner
of the motor vehicle will be liable for the resulting death or injury
 Caravan vs
o There is a need to harmonize the conflicting rulings with the Registered Owner
Rule or the requisites of 2180
o By reason of the employee’s negligence which gives rise to a presumed liability of
the owner
CLASSIFICATIONS OF OBLIGATIONS
Civil vs. Natural
 Civil – grants a right of action, if the obligation is not performed, then you can go to court
and demand,
 Natural – does not provide for any legal sanction
o Not simply a moral obligation
o Produces certain legal consequences
 If the obligation is voluntarily performed by the debtor, the creditor has the right to retain
the payment, debtor cannot change his mind and recover what he delivered and paid
 Extinctive novation – a previous valid obligation that can be novated, that previous
obligation need not be civil, may be natural
o Can be converted into civil
 Performance must be voluntary, debt that has already prescribed must be novated
 However, since a natural obligation is not legally demandable, legal compensation
 A natural obligation is not legally demandable

The enumeration of natural obligation is not exhaustive,

Art. 1956 in relation to 1960

 No interest shall be due unless expressly stipulated in writing  MONETARY interest
only
o 2 kinds of interest in civil code:
 Monetary – serves as cost of money
 Compensatory – indemnity for damages, penalty interest
o BUT compensatory interest need not be in writing; will become payable even if
not written since it is indemnification for damages
o Art. 1170, 2209 – from the moment incurs delay, he is liable to pay damages –
compensatory interest
 For the compensatory interest to be a civil obligation, it must be in writing, if it is not,
then it is a natural obligation, or i

BASED ON THE KIND OF PRESTATION

TO DO vs. TO GIVE or NOT TO DO

TO GIVE
real
Debtor can be compelled
what
If the subject matter is a
determinate thing then it is a
determinate obligation (only
the debtor may be compelled
TO DO NOT TO DO
personal personal
Cannot since it would be
involuntary servitude
Remedy if not done:
Cannot be compelled
If the act can be done by
another person, , at the
 to make the delivery, cannot expense of the debtor (but
ask the person to make the only to the amount of the
delivery) price of the service – ex. if
debtor is paid P1000 to do it,
If obligation is specific – aside but the other person does it
from obligation to deliver the for P1, 500 – debtor only pays
specific thing due, other P1, 000)
accessory obligations:
1) preserving the thing to be
delivered (1163, lest he will be
liable for damages to
creditor),
2) delivery of accessions and
accessories even if those are
not mentioned in the
agreement
3) delivery of the fruits of the
thing, only when the creditor
is entitled to the fruits
(if at the time there is an
obligation to deliver the
thing, there are fruits, then
the creditor already has a
right to those fruits)

If the subject matter is

generic – generic or
indeterminate obligation, it
never perishes, any member
of the genus, another may
satisfy subject to
reimbursement by the debtor

Next meeting: causes of breach of obligations, dolo culpa delay and contravention of the tenor,
nonperformance which is not his fault (fortuitous event)