Obligations and Rights Quiz

Law and Business Law

• Law is defined as an ordinance of reason, promulgated for the common good, by one who has authority over society, as defined by St. Thomas Aquinas.
• Law is the mass of rules of conduct formulated by legitimate State power for common observance and benefit.
• Key definition of law: "A rule of conduct, just and obligatory, promulgated by legitimate authority for the common observance and benefit" (Sanchez Roman).

Sources of Law

• Constitution: The fundamental law governing a nation's relationship with its citizens. All laws must comply with constitutional provisions.
• Administrative or executive orders, regulations, and rulings: Fundamental laws that must conform to the Constitution.
• Judicial decisions or jurisprudence: Judicial interpretations of laws and the Constitution form part of the legal system.
• Custom: Long-standing habits and practices recognized as binding rules of conduct.
• Other sources: Principles of justice and equity, decisions of foreign tribunals, and expert opinions.

General or Public Law

• Body of rules regulating the state's relationship with its citizens.
• Includes: International Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Political Law, and Criminal Law.

Individual or Private Law

• Governs private relationships between people.
• Includes: Civil Law, Commercial Law, and Procedural Law.

Definition of Obligation (Art. 1156, NCC)

• An obligation is a juridical necessity to give, to do or not to do.
• Derived from the Latin word "obligatio," meaning tying or binding.
• A legal relation enabling a creditor to demand a specific conduct (giving, doing, or refraining) from a debtor, and the satisfaction of assets if breached.

Elements of an Obligation

• Active subject (obligee/creditor): The party entitled to demand fulfillment.
• Passive subject (obligor/debtor): The party bound to fulfill.
• Object/prestation: The conduct demanded from the debtor.
• Efficient cause (juridical tie): The reason or origin of the obligation.

Different Kinds of Obligations

• Real Obligations: Obligations to give (a specific thing).
• Personal Obligations: Obligations to do or not to do (an action or forbearance).

Natural Obligations

• Based on equity and natural law.
• Do not grant a right of action to enforce performance but authorize retention of something voluntarily delivered.

Civil and Natural Obligations Distinguished

• Civil obligations are based on positive law and enforceable by court action.
• Natural obligations are based on equity and natural law but are not enforceable by court action.

Extra-contractual Obligations

• Obligations arising outside of contractual agreements.
• Examples include quasi-contract, quasi-delict.

Personal and Real Rights Distinguished

• Personal rights: Enforceable against a specific person.
• Real rights: Enforceable against the whole world.

Effect of Default (Mora)

• Mora solvendi: Debtor's delay in performing an obligation, a fault by debtor to give or to do.
• Mora accipiendi: Creditor's delay in accepting performance; fault or inaction by creditor.
• Compensatio morae: Delay of both parties in reciprocal obligations.

Kinds of Fraud (Dolo)

• Dolo causante: Fraud in securing consent leads to contract's voidability.
• Dolo incidente: Fraud in performing a pre-existing contract leads to damages.

Kinds of Negligence (Culpa)

• Culpa contractual: Negligence in performing a pre-existing contract.
• Culpa aquiliana: Negligence causing damage to another.

Reciprocal Obligations

• Created simultaneously.
• Obligations between parties are interconnected.

Conditional Obligations

• The obligation's effectiveness or extinguishment depends on a future, uncertain event.

Term Obligations

• Effectiveness is tied to a specified time, date or event
• Suspensive Term: Obligation becomes enforceable at a future date.
• Resolutory Term: Obligation terminates at a future date.

Alternative Obligations

• Several objects are due; fulfilling one satisfies the obligation.

Facultative Obligations

• Only one object is due; fulfilling one alternative satisfies, but other alternatives are not required

Joint Obligations

• Each debtor or creditor is only responsible for their respective portion of the prestation.

Solidary Obligations

• One obligor is liable for the entire obligation as if they alone were the debtor or obligor.

Divisible Obligations

• The prestation may be fulfilled in parts without changing the essence of the obligation.

Indivisible Obligations

• The prestation cannot be fulfilled in parts, as the fulfillment of the whole is required.

Obligations with a Penal Clause

• Accessory undertaking to ensure obligation fulfillment, stipulating indemnity/performance upon breach.

Modes of Extinguishment of Obligations

• Payment/Performance: Fulfillment of the obligation's terms.
• Condonation/Remission: Creditor's gratuitous abandonment of the obligation's enforcement.
• Confusion/Merger: The creditor and debtor become one person.
• Compensation: Mutual offsetting of debts between parties.
• Novation: Replacing the old obligation with a new one.

Tender of Payment and Consignation

• Tender: A formal offer to perform an obligation.
• Consignation: Deposit or delivery of the thing in fulfillment of the obligation when creditor refuses to accept or cannot accept

Loss of a Determinate Thing

• Obligation extinguished if lost/destroyed without debtor's fault before incurring delay