CHAPTER 2: Nature & Effects of Obligation
Accessories
things joined to or included with principal thing for the latter's embellishment, better use or completion follows the principal
Actually
Actual thing
Remedies of creditor in positive personal Obligation
(1) if the debtor fails to comply with his obligation to do, the creditor has the right to: a. have obligation performed by himself or by others b. recover damages (2) In case the obligation is done in contravention of terms of the same or is poorly done, it may be ordered by court upon complaint, that it be undone if it is still possible to undo what was done
Duties of debtor in obligation to give a determinate thing
(1)To preserve or take care of the thing due; (2) To deliver the fruits of the thing; (3) To deliver its accessions and accessories; (4) To deliver the thing itself (5) To answer for damages in case of non-fulfillment or breach.
Ordinary fortuitous events
- These are events which ordinarily happen or which could be reasonably foreseen but are inevitable.
Extraordinary fortuitous events
- Those which do not usually happen and could not be reasonably foreseen.
Validity of waiver of action arising from negligence
1. An action for future negligence (not fraud) may be renounced except where the nature of an obligation is required the exercise of the extraordinary diligence as in the case of common carriers 2. where negligence show bad faith, it is equivalent to fraud
Fortuitous event distinguished from force majeure
1. acts of man- event independence of the will of the obligor but not of human wills. (fire,war,robbery,murdeer,insurrection) 2. acts of god-event which are totally independent will of every human being (earthquake,flood,rain,shipwrecked,lightning,eruption of volcano)
Requisites of fortuitous event
1. cause of the breach is independent of the debtors will 2.events are unforseeable or unavoidable 3. the event is such as to render it impossible for the debtor to fulfill his obligation in a normal manner 4. the debtor did not make/take part in causing the injury to the creditor
Exceptions in the RECIPROCAL OBLIGATION
1. different dates for the performance of respective obligation are fixed by the parties
3 conditions in mora solvendi
1. failure of the debtor to fulfill his obligation on the date agreed upon 2. demand made by the creditor upon the debtor to comply his obligation which demand may be either judicial or extrajudicial 3.failure to comply with such demand
Exception of UNILATERAL OBLIGATION
1. law or obligation so declare (stipulated) 2. Time is the controlling motive for the establishment of obligation 3. Demand would be useless
Factors to be considered in negligence
1. nature of obligation 2. circumstances of a person 3. circumstances of time 4. circumstances of the place
Obligation of the Debtor
1. to give a specific thing 2. to give a generic thing 3. obligation to do 4. not to do
Nominal Damages
A small monetary award (often one dollar) granted to a plaintiff when no actual damage was suffered. Art 2221, damages recoverable in order to vindicate or recognize a right
Fortuitous Event (Caso Fortuito)
An event that at the time the contract was made could not have been reasonably foreseen. cannot be foreseen is inevitable may be either an act of man or an act of god refers to an event which is absolutely independent of human intervention. It is also called an act of God.
Accession or Accessories
Article 1156 the obligation to give a determinate thing includes all its accessions and accessories even though they have been mentioned
Criminal Negligence
Behavior in which a person fails to reasonably perceive substantial and unjustifiable risks of dangerous consequences. resulting in commission of a crime act causing damages may produce civil liability arising from a crime under article 100 of the revised penal code (supra)
Past Fraud
Commited can be waived by the creditor waiver of such fraud is an act of liberality on the part of a creditor has the right of action VALID
gross negligence
Conduct that constitutes a willful or reckless disregard for a duty or standard of care. almost no diligence carelessness which reckless disregard safety slight care and diligence such entire want of care as to raise is a presumption that the person in fault is conscious of the probable consequences of carelessness, worse, to the danger of injury of person or property of others.
General rule of RECIPROCAL OBLIGATION
Delay occurs from the moment one party fulfill his undertaking, while the other does not comply or if not ready to comply in a proper manner with what is incumbent upon him
Mora accipiendi
Delay on the part of the creditor to accept the performance of the obligation
Mora solvendi
Delay on the part of the debtor to fulfill his obligation
Constructively
Deliver without the actual thing
Article 1163
Every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family, unless the law or the stipulation of the parties requires another standard of care.
Grounds for liability
Fraud Negligence Delay Contravention of the terms of the obligation
Casual Fraud (dolo causante)
Fraud in obtaining consent deception of a serious character employed by one party and without which the other party would not have entered in the contract induced a person to enter a contract no contract but fraud happened you make the fraud to obtain a contact voidable 1338
Another standard of care
If the law or stipulation of the parties provides for another standard of care, the said law or stipulation must prevail.
Future Fraud
If the parties agreed for a waiver of a fraud that is to be committed is VOID law discourages the employment of fraud even if consent for its commission has been granted debtor will still be liable for fraud even if there is such a waiver VOID
Simple loan or mutuum
Is a contract whereby one of the parties delivers to another, money or other consumable thing, upon the condition that the same amount of the same kind and quality shall be paid.
Civil Negligence
Negligence becomes a source of obligation in itself without a pre existing contract
General rule of UNILATERAL OBLIGATION
No demand, no delay
Disputable presumption
One which can be contradicted or rebutted by additional evidenced. assume this one once you get preponderance of evidence disproved by evidence shall give rise to the presumption that said interest has been paid of positive
Conclusive presumption
One which cannot be contradicted. cannot be rebutted ;no room for doubt act or omision intentionally or deliberately led to another to believe a particular thing true and act upon such belief cannot in any litigation arising out of such declaration proof of certain facts make the exisence of the assumed fact beyond dispute beyond reasonable doubt negative
Fruits
Product of principal right
Contravention of the terms of the obligation
This is the violation of the terms and conditions stipulated in the obligation.
Force majeure (fuerza mayor)
This refers to an event caused by the legitimate and illegitimate acts of persons other than the obligor. In brief, in force majeure, there is human intervention.
Exception in transmissibility of rights
Prohibited by law. — When prohibited by law, like the rights in partnership, agency, and commodatum which are purely personal in character.(a) By the contract of partnership, two or more persons bind themselves to contribute money, property or industry to a common fund, with the intention of dividing the profits among themselves. (Art. 1767.)(b) By the contract of agency, a person binds himself to render some service or to do something in representation or on behalf of another, with the consent or authority of the latter. (Art. 1868.)(c) By the contract of commodatum, one of the parties delivers to another something not consumable so that the latter may use the same for a certain time and return it. (2) Prohibited by stipulation of parties. — When prohibited by stipulation of the parties, like the stipulation that upon the death of the creditor, the obligation shall be extinguished or that the creditor cannot assign his credit to another. The stipulation against transmission must not be contrary to public policy. Such stipulation, being contrary to the general rule, should not be easily implied, but must be clearly proved, or at the very least, clearly implied from the provisions of the contract itself.
Accion Pauliana
Rescission, which involves the right of the creditor to attack or impugn by means of a rescissory action any act of the debtor which is in fraud and to the prejudice of his rights as creditor. to impugn contracts that were entered to defraud the creditor. cannot cancel the contract of the debtor
Legal Delay
The failure to perform an obligation on time which failure constitutes a breach of the obligation.
preponderance of the evidence
The standard of proof in a civil case in which a judge or jury must believe the plaintiff's story and evidence is stronger than the defendant's version. type of evidentiary standard use in a burden of proof analysis
beyond a reasonable doubt
The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal case: that there is no other logical explanation, based on the facts, except that the defendant committed the crime higher standard prosecutor must eliminate any reasonable doubts to prove guilty
Generic or indeterminate thing
When it refers only to a class or genus to which it pertains and cannot be pointed out with particularity. debtor can give anything of the same kind as long as it is of the same kind cannot be the object of destruction of a fortuitous event
Effects of mor accipiendi
a. creditor is guilty of breach of obligations b. liable for damages suffered c. bears the risk of loss of the thing due d. obligation to pay money e. debtor may release himself by the coonsignation or deposit in court of the thing due
Principal rights remedies
a. ask specific thing b. ask performance c. ask substitute performance d. ask damages e. rescission (Specific scenarios only) f. attachment & execution of the debtor's properties
Effects of Mora Solvendi
a. debtor is guilty of breach or violation of the obligations b.liable to the creditor, obliged to pay for damages in the absence of extrajudicial demand, interest shall commence from the filing of the complaint c. liable even in a fortuitous event when determinate thing
Inference
act or process of conducting from evidence o rpremises
General Rule of the Accessions and Accessories
all accessions and accessories are considered included in the obligation to deliver a determinate thing although they may not have been mentioned. if excluded: there must be a stipulation
presumption
assumed knowledge in advance of proof rule of law which permits a court to assume a fact is true such time there is preponderance of evidence which disproves or outweigh presumption fact not actually knowing raising from its usual connection with another which is known or proved
General rule in delay:
begins only from the moment a demand for the fulfillment of the former's obligation is made by the creditor
Perfection of the contract
birth of the contract meeting of the minds between parties the moment you agree, the obligation started
commodatum
borrow something
"he shall acquire no real right over it until the same has been delivered to him"
creditor does not become the owner until the specific thing has been delivered to him
Entitlement of fruit
creditor is entitled to the fruits of the thing to be delivered from the time the obligation to make delivery arises.
General Rule in the failure to preserve the thing:
debtor will not be liable as long as it is because of fortuitous event or force majeure
Compensatio morae
delay of the parties in reciprocal obligations; effect: as if there is no default. delay of the obligor in reciprocal obligations
Civil Fruits
derived by virtue of juridical relation (rent of building, price of lease)
Factors to be considered
diligence required necessarily depends upon the nature of the obligation and corresponds with circumstances of the person, time and place.
Reciprocal Obligations
duty owed by one individual to another and vice versa bears upon or binds two parties in an equal mannee
Actual or compensatory damages
entitled to an adequate compensation only for such pecuniary loss suffered as duly proved he who shall claims actual or compensatory damages must establish and proved by competent evidence actual pecuniary loss
subsidiary rights
exercise if performed the principal right
Ordinary delay
failure to perform an obligation on time
Incidental Fraud (dolo incidente)
fraud in performance of obligation not serious character which the other party would have enterd you make fraud to benefit you 1144
When creditor has a right to the fruits of a determinate thing
from the time the obligation to deliver arises. However, shall acquire no real right over it until thing is delivered. if suspensive: rises upon the fulfillment of the condition or arrival of the term contract of sale: arises from the perfection of the contract even if it is supensive when the price has been made.
Accession
fruits of a thing or additions to or improvement upon a thing attached to principal thing either naturally or artificially
genus nunquam perit
genus never perishes
Fraud (deceit or dolo)
intentional evasion of the normal fulfillment f an obligation
Deliver the thing
involves placing the thing in the possession of the creditor either actually or constructively
Real right
is a power over a specific thing (like the right of ownership or possession) only a definite active subject without a definite passive subject enforceable against anyone or whole world
Personal right
is the right or power of a person to demand from another — to give, to do, or not to do. there is definite active subject and a definite passive subject enforceable against specific passive subject
Burden of proof
met when the party with burden convince the fact finder that there is a greater than 50% chance that the claim is true
Temporate or moderate damages
more than nominal but less than compensatory damage may recovered when the court finds that some pecuniary loss has been suffered
Reason for debtor's obligation
must exercise diligence to insure that the thing to be delivered would subsist in the same condition as it was when the obligation was contracted.
Contractual negligence (culpa contractual)
negligence in contract of breach 1172 not source of obligation merely makes the debtor liable for damages view of his negligence in the fulfillment of a pre-existing obligation
General rule of fortuitous event
no person is liable in fortuitous event EXCEPT: 1.law or stipulation expressly so declare 2.nature of the obligation requires the assumption of risk 3. obligation is to give the specific thing 4. debtor is already delay possesor in bad faith
PRESERVE THE THING
obligor has the incidental duty to take care of the thing due with the diligence of a good father of a family pending delivery
Diligence of a good father of a family
ordinary care that an average person exercise in taking care of the property
Specific or Determinate thing
particularly designated or physically segregated others of the same class particularly segregated; physically deisignated identified by individuality cannot substitute it with another although the latter is on the same kind and quality without the consent of the creditor "the"
Industrial Fruits
produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor (sugarcane, vegetables, rice ) intervention of human
Accion Subrogatoria
right of creditor to exercise all of the rights and bring all of the actions which his debtor may have against third persons;
Transmissibility of rights
rights that do not pass on to one's heirs or assigns. all rights acquired in a virtue of an obligation are generally transmissible or assignable
Natural Fruit
spontaneous products of the soil and the young and other products of animals (Grass, trees) without intervention of human
Usury
the illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest. contacting for or receiving interest i excess of the amount allowed by the law or loan
Liquidated damage
those agreed upon by the parties to a contact to be paid in case of breach thereof
Importance of knowing whether a thing is determinate or generic
to know the ruling for determinate: the loss of it through a fortuitous event extinguishes the obligation.
Unilateral Gratuitous obligation
undertaken voluntarily known unilateral voluntary obligation one person promises to benefit or favour another, he may be under a legal obligation to keep his promise
Negligence
voluntary act or omission, there being no bad faith or malice, which prevents the normal fulfillment of an obligation. failure to observe the protection of the interest of another person, that degree of care, precaution, and vigilance which the circumstances justly demand, whereby such other person suffers injury