Civil Law Obligations

General Provisions of Obligations

• An obligation is a juridical necessity to give, to do, or not to do.
• Civil obligation: gives the creditor a right to enforce performance in courts of justice.
• Natural obligation: based on equity and justice, no right of action to enforce performance, but debtor cannot recover what has been delivered.

Requisites of an Obligation

• Passive subject (debtor/obligor)
• Active subject (creditor/obligee)
• Object/prestation
• Juridical/legal tie (Vinculum juris)

Kinds of Obligations

• Real obligation: delivery of a thing
• Personal obligation: to do or not to do

Sources of Obligations

• Law
• Contracts
• Quasi-contracts
• Acts or omissions punished by law
• Quasi-delicts

Kinds of Quasi-Contracts

• Negotiorum gestio: voluntary management without knowledge/consent
• Solutio indebiti: payment by mistake

Obligations from Criminal Offenses

• Civil obligations arising from criminal offenses
• Requisites: act/omission, fault/negligence, damage, and direct relation between act/omission and damage

Form and Validity of Obligations

• Formal or solemn: requires solemnity or formality to be perfected
• Informal, common or simple: does not require legal involvement to be considered enforceable
• Valid: free from defects
• Rescissible: valid until rescinded
• Voidable: valid until annulled
• Unenforceable: appears valid but cannot be enforced by a court
• Void: inexistent

Person Obliged

• Unilateral: only one party makes a promise
• Bilateral: two-way street where each side agrees to fulfill an obligation

Risks and Liability

• Cumulative: undertaking of one party is considered the equivalent of the other
• Aleatory: depends on an uncertain event or contingency
• Unilateral: obligation on the part of only one party
• Bilateral: obligation on both parties

Status of Obligations

• Executory: not yet completely performed by both parties
• Executed: fully and satisfactorily carried out by both parties

Nature and Effects of Obligations

• Delivering a determinate thing: debtor must take care of the thing with the diligence of a good father of a family
• Delivering an indeterminate thing: to deliver a thing which is of the quality intended
• Rights of the creditor: to the fruits of the thing from the time the obligation to deliver it arises
• Kinds of fruits: natural, industrial, and civil

Test your understanding of civil law obligations, including the definition of an obligation, civil obligations, natural obligations, rights, and wrongs.