Republic of the Philippines

DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY

Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
Mexico Extension Campus

Module 1
Law on Obligations
Obligation – a juridical necessity to give, to do, or not to do.

Sources:

1. Law (obligation ex lege)

2. Contracts (obligation ex contractu)
3. Quasi-contracts – lawful, voluntary and unilateral acts that give rise to the juridical relation of
quasi-contracts to the end that no one shall be unjustly enriched or benefited at the expense of
another
Common Kinds:
a. Negotiorum Gestio – voluntary management of the property or affairs of another
without the knowledge or consent of the latter.
b. Solutio indebiti – juridical relationship which is created when something is received
when there is no right to demand for it and it was delivered through mistake.
4. Delicts (crimes) – acts o omissions punishable by law.
5. Quasi-delicts/ culpa aquilliana/torts – acts or omissions causing damages or injury to another
person due to the fault or negligence of another person but there is no pre-existing contract between
them.

REQUISITES of a VALID Obligation.

1. Parties –
a. Passive Subject – known as the obligor or debtor.
b. Active Subject – known as the obligee or creditor.
2. Object: The prestation, act or service constituting the object of the obligation (to give, to do or not to do)
3. Juridical or legal tie/ Vinculum juris

RELATED TERMS

1. Specific or Determinate Thing – a thing which is particularly designated or physically segregated from all
the same class
2. Generic or Indeterminate Thing – a thing which refers only to a class or genus to which it pertains and
cannot be pointed out with particularity
3. Accessories. – things joined to the principal thing for its Better Use, Embellishment, or Completion
4. Accessions – fruits of a thing or anything produced by it, attached or incorporated thereto as an addition or
improvement.
Kinds: Natural, Industrial and Civil

IMPORTANT:
The creditor shall be entitled to the fruits of the thing at the time the obligation to deliver the principal thing arises.
The creditor, however, will acquire real right or ownership over the fruit only after the same has been delivered to
him.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE DEBTOR:

In obligations to give determinate things:

1. Specific performance
2. Take care of the thing with the proper diligence of a good father of a family; (unless another degree of
diligence will be required by law or stipulation of the parties)
3. Deliver all accessions and accessories of the thing even though they may not have been mentioned.
4. Pay damages in case of breach of the obligation by reason of delay, fraud, negligence or contravention of the
tenor thereof.

In generic obligations:
1. Deliver the things which is neither of superior nor inferior quality.
2. To pay damages in case of breach of the obligation by reason of delay, fraud, negligence or contravention of
the tenor thereof.

CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING OBLIGATIONS

Rule: A person in the performance of his obligation will be liable to pay DAMAGES in case he will be guilty of:
DELAY, FRAUD, NEGLIGENCE, or CONTRAVENTION OF THE TENOR OF THE OBLIGATION.
 Republic of the Philippines
DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY
Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
Mexico Extension Campus

Kind of Damages (MENTAL)

1. Moral – includes physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded
feelings, moral shock, social humiliation and similar injury.
2. Exemplary – corrective damages are imposed by way of example or correction for the public good, in
addition to the moral, temperate, liquidated or compensatory damages.
3. Nominal – adjudicated in order that a right of a person, which has been violated or invaded by another, may
be vindicated or recognized.
4. Temperate – moderate damages, which are more than nominal but less than compensatory damages, may be
recovered when the court finds that some pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount cannot, from the
nature of the case, be provided with certainty.
5. Actual – adequate compensation only for such pecuniary loss suffered by a person as duly proved.
6. Liquidated – agreed upon by the parties to a contract, to be paid in case of breach thereof.

DELAY (MORA)

Kinds:
1. Mora Solvendi – delay on the part of the debtor
2. Mora Accipiendi – delay on the part of the creditor
3. Compensatio Morae – delay on the part of both parties in reciprocal obligations.

General Rule: Demand (Judicial/extra-judicial) is necessary before one incurs in delay

Exceptions:
1. The law expressly so declares
2. The obligation itself so stipulates
3. Time of the essence
4. Demand is useless as when obligor has rendered it beyond his power to perform
5. When there is performance by a party in reciprocal obligations.

FRAUD (DOLO)

- Must be present during the performance of the obligation and not fraud at the time of the birth of the
obligation.

Kinds of Dolo
1. Dolo Causante – casual fraud, vitiating consent
2. Dolo Insidente – incidental fraud, giving rise to the right to demand damages.

NEGLIGENCE (CULPA)

- Consists in the omission of that diligence which is required by the nature of the obligation corresponding to
the circumstances of the person, of the time and of the place

TEST: Diligence of a good father of a family

Kinds of Negligence:
1. Culpa Contractual
2. Culpa Criminal
3. Culpa Aquiliana

FRAUD NEGLIGENCE
1. Deliberate intention to cause damage or injury 1. no such intention exists
2. Waiver of the liability for future fraud – void 2. waiver of future negligence may be allowed in certain
cases
3. Must be clearly proven 3. can be presumed from the violation of a contractual
obligation
4. Liability cannot be mitigated or reduced by courts 4. liability may be reduced according to circumstances

BREACH OF OBLIGATIONS

Kinds:
1. Voluntary – debtor is liable for damages if in the performance of his obligation debtor is guilty of
a. Default (mora)
b. Fraud (dolo)
c. Negligence (culpa)
d. In any manner contravene the nature thereof
 Republic of the Philippines
DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY
Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
Mexico Extension Campus

Rights of the Creditor

In determinate obligations
1. ask for specific performance
2. damages, exclusive or in addition to specific performance.

In generic obligations
1. Ask for specific performance
2. ask that the obligation be complied with at the debtor’s expense
3. damages

2. Involuntary – debtor is not liable for damages

FORTUITOUS EVENT – event that cannot be foreseen or although foreseeable are inevitable

Essential Characteristics
1. Cause is independent of the will of the debtor
2. The event must be unforeseeable or unavoidable
3. Occurrence must be such as to render it impossible for the debtor to fulfill his obligation in a normal manner.
4. The debtor must be free from any participation in the aggravation of the injury resulting to the creditor.

General Rule: No liability in case of fortuitous event

Exceptions:
1. When expressly declared by stipulation
2. When the nature of the obligation required the assumption of risk
3. When expressly declared by law
Examples:
a. When the debtor has incurred in delay or is guilty of fraud negligence or contravention of the tenor
of the obligation
b. When the debtor has promised to deliver the same thing to 2 o more different persons who do not
have the same interest
c. When the thing to be delivered is indeterminate/generic
d. When the obligation to deliver a specific thing arises from a crime
e. When the bailee in commodatum allowed a third person to use the thing borrowed.

Related Rules
1. All rights acquired by virtue of an obligation are transmissible.
Exceptions:
a. When the law prohibits the transfer of rights
b. When the stipulation of the parties prohibits the transfer of rights.

4. The creditor has the following remedies to satisfy his claims against his debtor
a. Exact fulfillment/specific performance
b. Pursue the leviable properties of the debtor
c. Accion subrogatoria – exercise all rights and actions of the debtor except those which are inherent
in his person
d. Accion pauliana – rescind contracts entered into by the debtor to defraud the creditor.

Presumptions
1. When the creditor received the principal amount of an obligation without reserving his right with respect to
the interest, it is presumed that said interest has been paid.
2. When the creditor received a later installment of a debt without reserving his right as to the prior installments,
it is presumed that such prior installments have been paid.

PREPARED BY

ELDUZ KIM S. CAPULI

Instructor 1