General Provisions

(Article 1156-1162)
Coverage of Discussion:
• What is Obligation according to Civil Code.
• Kinds of Obligation
• Requisites of Obligation
• Difference between Civil obligation and Natural
obligation
•Sources of Obligation
Obligation?
Article 1156: An obligation is a juridical
necessity to give, to do or not to do.
 Came from Latin word OBLIGATIO means tying or
binding.
 Juridical Necessity – means that the court may asked to
order the performance of an obligation if the debtor
refuses to perform it.
 If an obligation cannot be enforced through the courts, it
may be disregarded with impunity.
Kinds of Obligation
1. Real Obligation (to give)
2. Personal Obligation (to do or not todo)
1. Positive Personal Obligation (PPO)
 To do e.g rendering of services
2. Negative Personal Obligation (NPO)
 Not to do/Not to give
Requisites of Obligation
1. Subject
1. Active Subject – Creditor or Obligee (COA)
 The party who has the right to demand performance of the
obligation.
2. Passive Subject – Debtor or Obligor (OPD)
 The party who is obliged to perform the obligation.
2. Prestation Or Object
◦ The subject matter of the obligation. It may consists of giving, doing or not doing
something

3. Efficient Cause
• The Vinculum or the legal or juridical tie which binds the parties to an obligation.
The efficient cause of an obligation may be any of the five sources of obligation.
Example:
D is obliged to give C P50,000 with
interest at 12% per annum on December
31, 2020 pursuant to a contract of loan.
C – Active Subject
D – Passive Subject
The giving of P50,000 with 12% interest
– Prestation/Object/Subject Matter
Contract of Loan – Efficient Cause
Civil Obligation VS Natural Obligation

Civil obligation is based on positive law;

hence, it is enforceable by court action
Natural obligation is based on natural
law; hence, it is not enforceable by court
action. The obligation however, exists in
equity and moral justice, such that if the
debtor voluntarily performs it, he can no
longer recover it what he has given.
Example:
M is the maker of promissory note with P as
payee for P20,000. If M does not pay on due
date, P can enforce payment by filing a court
action. If P does not file a court action against M
within 10 years from due date which is the
prescriptive period for actions upon a written
contract, P losses the right to enforce payment by
court action. However, if M voluntarily makes the
payment to P although the obligation has
prescribed, M will no longer be allowed to
recover the payment because in equity and moral
justice, he still owed P the amount of 20,000.
PRESCRIPTION
Sources of Obligation:
Law (Obligation ex lege)
◦ A rule of conduct, just and obligatory, laid down
by legitimate authority for common observance
and benefit.
◦ Obligations derived from law are not presumed.
◦ Only those expressly determined in the Civil
Code or in special laws are demandable, and shall
be regulated by the precepts of the law which
establishes them; and as to what has not been
foreseen, by the provisions on Obligation.
Example:
An obligation to pay tax in the government.
Contracts (Obligation ex contratu)
◦ Is a meeting of minds between two persons
whereby one binds himself, with respect to the
other, to give something or to render some
service.
◦ Obligations arise from contracts have the
force of law between the contracting parties
and should be complied with in good faith.
Examples:
Contract of lease
Contract of sale
Quasi-Contracts (quasi means As if)
◦ Lawful, voluntary and unilateral acts give
rise to the juridical relation of of quasi-
contract to the end that no one shall be
unjustly enriched or benefited at the expense
of another.
◦ Unjust enrichment – “when a person
unjustly retains a benefit to the loss of
another, or when a person retains money or
property of another against the fundamental
principles of justice, equity and good
conscience.”
2 kinds of Quasi-Contracts:
◦ Negotiorum gestio – this refers to the voluntary
administration of the property, business or affairs of
another without the consent or authority. It creates the
obligation to reimburse the gestor for necessary and
useful expenses.
Example:
D and C are the owners of adjacent vegetable farms.
One day, D was not around ro tend to his farm. When
C noticed that D has not been around for almost a
week, he himself cultivated the soil and placed
fertilizeron it, watered the plants, removed the weeds
and wilted leaves. C incurred necessary and useful
expenses in the process. d must reimburse C for such
expenses. Otherwise, he will be unjustly enriching
himself at C’s expense.
◦ Solutio Indebiti – this refers to payment by mistake of
an obligation which was not due when paid. It creates
the obligation to return the payment.
Example:
D, the payee of check for P5,000, cashes it with the
drawee bank, but the teller gives him P6,000 by
mistake. D is duty boud to return the excess of P1,000
to the bank. Otherwise he will be unjustly enriching
himself at the bank’s expense.
Delicts (Crime) – Acts or ommissions
punishable by law
 These commission of a crime makes the offender
civilly liable.
 Such civil liability includes restitution, reparation of
damage caused, and indemnification of
consequential damages.
Example:
If D steals the carabao of C, D’s civil liability consists of
returning the carabao, paying for its value if he cannot
return it and indemnifying the consequential damages
suffered not only by C but also those of his family or by
a third person by reason of the crime. This will be in
addition to any prison term or other penalty that may be
imposed upon him by the court.
Quasi-delicts/culpa acquiliana/torts
◦ Acts or ommission causing damage or injury to another
person due to the fault or negligence of another person
but there is no pre-existing contract between them.
REQUISITES:
a) There must be an act or omission
b) There must be fault or negligence
c) There must be damage caused
d) There must be a direct relation or connection of cause and effect
between the act or omission and the damage; and
e) There is no pre-existing contractual relation between the parties
Example:
If a person, while cleaning his window, causes a
flower pot to fall through his negligence thereby
injuring someone passing by, the former is liable
for damages to the latter.
QUESTIONS?