PARTNERSHIP, AGENCY AND TRUST

PARTNERSHIP
( Arts. 1769 – 1867)

Art. 1767

Definition of Partnership

a. Two or more persons

b. Bind themselves
c. To contribute money, property, or industry to a common fund
d. With intention of dividing the profits among themselves

Partnership and practice of law

= cannot be likened to other partnerships formed by other professionals or for business

= it is not a partnership formed for the purpose of carrying a trade or business or of

holding property

= intimately and peculiarly related to the administration of justice and should not be
considered like an ordinary “money-making trade

Characteristics of the legal profession:

1. Duty of public service of which emolument is just a by-product

2. Relation as an “officer of the court” to the administration of justice involving
thorough sincerity, integrity, and reliability
3. Relation to clients in the highest fiduciary degree
4. Relation to colleagues at the bar characterized by candor, fairness, and
unwillingness to resort to current business methods of advertising ad
encroachment on their practice, or dealing directly with their clients

Characteristic elements of partnership

a. Consensual = perfected by mere consent (express / implied)

b. Nominate = special name or designation in our law
c. Bilateral = entered into by two or more persons and the rights and
obligations arising therefrom are always reciprocal
d. Onerous = each of the parties aspires to procure for himself a benefit
through the giving of something
e. Commutative = undertaking of each of the partners is considered as the
equivalent of the that of the others
f. Principal = its does not depend for its existence or validity upon some
 Other contracts
g. Preparatory = engage in business or specific venture for the realization of
profits with the view of dividing them among the
contracting parties

As a contract of agency ( Art. 1818)