Law on Obligations: General Principles

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the Law on Obligations based on Articles 1156 to 1305 of the Civil Code of the Philippines.

Obligation

A juridical necessity to give, to do or not to do according to Art. 1156 of the Civil Code.

Civil obligations

Obligations that give a right of action to compel their performance.

Natural obligations

Obligations not based on positive law but on equity and natural law, which do not grant a right of action to enforce performance but authorize retention of what was delivered if voluntarily fulfilled.

Active subject

The creditor or obligee in an obligation.

Passive subject

The debtor or obligor in an obligation.

Prestation

The subject matter of the obligation.

Vinculum Juris

Also known as the Efficient Cause or Juridical Tie; it is the element that binds the parties to the obligation.

Obligations ex lege

Obligations derived from law; they are not presumed and must be expressly determined in the Code or special laws.

Contract

A meeting of minds between two persons whereby one binds himself, with respect to the other, to give something or to render some service (Art. 1305).

Quasi-Contracts

Juridical relations resulting from lawful, voluntary, and unilateral acts to ensure no one is unjustly enriched at the expense of another.

Negotiorum Gestio

A nominate quasi-contract where someone voluntarily takes charge of the agency or management of the business or property of another without power from the latter.

Solutio Indebiti

A nominate quasi-contract created when something is received when there is no right to demand it and it was unduly delivered through mistake.

Delict

An act or omission punishable by law (obligations ex maleficio or ex delicto); every person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly liable.

Quasi-Delicts

Obligations arising from acts or omissions that cause damage to another through fault or negligence where no pre-existing contractual relation exists.

Restitution

A component of civil liability arising from a crime that involves the return of the thing itself.

Reparation

A component of civil liability for the damage caused by a crime.

Indemnification

A component of civil liability for consequential damages arising from a crime.

Vicarious Liability

Under Art. 2180, the responsibility of certain persons (parents, guardians, employers, the State, teachers) for damages caused by those under their company or custody.

Pure Obligations

An obligation whose performance does not depend upon a future or uncertain event, or upon a past event unknown to the parties, and is demandable at once.

Conditional Obligations

Obligations where the acquisition of rights or the extinguishment of those already acquired depends upon the happening of an event.

Potestative Condition

A condition dependent solely on the will of one of the parties; it is void if it depends solely on the will of the debtor and is suspensive in character.

Constructive Fulfillment

The principle under Art. 1186 where a condition is deemed fulfilled if the obligor voluntarily prevents its fulfillment.

Physically impossible conditions

Conditions requiring a debtor to perform an act that cannot be done, such as going to the sun.

Legally impossible conditions

Conditions contrary to law, good customs, or public policy, such as requiring the debtor to kill somebody.

Suspensive Condition

A condition where the happening of the event gives rise to the obligation.

Resolutory Condition

A condition where the fulfillment of the event extinguishes the obligation.

Obligations with a Period

An obligation involving a certain length of time that determines effectivity or extinguishment, where the event is certain to arrive.

Ex die

A period with a suspensive effect; the obligation begins only upon the arrival of the day certain.

In diem

A period with a resolutory effect; the obligation is extinguished upon the arrival of the day certain.

Conjunctive Obligation

An obligation involving plurality of prestations where all must be complied with to fulfill the obligation.

Alternative Obligation

An obligation where the performance of one of several prestations is sufficient for fulfillment.

Concentration

The technical term for the communication of the choice made in an alternative obligation.

Facultative Obligation

An obligation where only one prestation has been agreed upon, but the obligor may render another in substitution.

Solidary Obligation

An obligation where each debtor is liable for the entire obligation or each creditor is entitled to demand the whole obligation.

Joint Obligations

An obligation in which each debtor is liable only for a proportionate part of the debt and each creditor is entitled only to a proportionate part of the credit.

Indivisible Obligations

Obligations that are not susceptible of partial performance, such as the delivery of a definite thing.

Penal Clause

A provision where a penalty substitutes for the indemnity for damages and payment of interests in case of non-compliance.

Bonus pater familia

The diligence of a good father of a family; the standard of care required in obligations to give a determinate thing unless otherwise specified.

Natural Fruits

The spontaneous products of the soil, and the young and other products of animals.

Industrial Fruits

Fruits derived from human intervention, cultivation, or labor.

Civil Fruits

Fruits derived from the juridical relation of parties.

Accessories

Those things joined to or included with the principal for the latter’s better use, perfection, or enjoyment, such as keys to a house.

Accessions

Additions or improvements upon a thing, including alluvium and whatever is built, planted, or sown on a parcel of land.

Moral Damages

Damages for mental and physical anguish.

Exemplary Damages

Corrective damages intended to set an example.

Nominal Damages

Damages awarded to vindicate a right when no other kind of damages may be recovered.

Temperate Damages

Damages awarded when the exact amount cannot be determined.

Actual Damages

Damages for actual losses incurred; this is the only type that requires proof.

Liquidated Damages

Damages that are predetermined beforehand by the parties.

Dolo causante

Fraud in obtaining consent which affects the validity of the contract, making it voidable.

Dolo incidente

Fraud in the performance of the obligation that makes the party liable for damages but does not affect the contract's validity.

Culpa Contractual

Contractual negligence or negligence that results in a breach of contract.

Culpa Aquiliana

Civil negligence or negligence arising from a quasi-delict.

Mora Solvendi

Delay on the part of the debtor.

Mora Accipiendi

Delay on the part of the creditor.

Compensatio Morae

Delay on the part of both parties in a reciprocal obligation.

Fortuitous Event

An extraordinary event that is not foreseeable or avoidable, acting as an excuse for the non-performance of an obligation.

Legal Tender

Payment which the creditor can be compelled to accept, including BSP-issued notes and coins within specific limits.

Dation in Payment

Dacion en pago; the delivery or transmission of ownership of a thing by the debtor to the creditor as an accepted equivalent of the performance of the obligation.

Application of Payments

The designation of the debt which is being paid by a debtor who has several obligations of the same kind in favor of the same creditor.

Payment by Cession

A form of payment where the debtor delivers all his properties to all his creditors for the purpose of selling them to settle obligations.

Consignation

The deposit of the object of the obligation in a competent court after a valid tender of payment has been unjustly refused.

Condonation

Also known as Remission; an act of liberality where the creditor renounces the enforcement of an obligation without receiving any equivalent.

Confusion

Also known as Merger; the meeting in one person of the qualities of the creditor and debtor with respect to the same obligation.

Compensation

A mode of extinguishment where persons who are reciprocally creditors and debtors of each other have their obligations extinguished to the concurrent amount.

Novation

The extinguishment of an old obligation by the creation of a new one intended to substitute it.

Subrogation

Active personal novation where a third person is substituted for the rights of the creditor.

Expromision

Passive personal novation where a third person is substituted as the debtor without the knowledge or consent of the original debtor.

Delegacion

Passive personal novation where the substitution of the debtor is made with the consent of the original debtor.