Obligations and Contracts

Article 1156. - An obligation is a juridical necessity to give, to do or not to do. (n)

Article 1157. - Obligations arise from:

(1) Law;
(2) Contracts;
(3) Quasi-contracts;
(4) Acts or omissions punished by law; and
(5) Quasi-delicts. (1089a)

Article 1158. - Obligations derived from law are not presumed. Only those expressly
determined in this Code or in special laws are demandable, and shall be regulated by
the precepts of the law which establishes them; and as to what has not been foreseen,
by the provisions of this Book. (1090)

Article 1159. - Obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the
contracting parties and should be complied with in good faith. (1091a)

Article 1160. - Obligations derived from quasi-contracts shall be subject to the

provisions of Chapter 1, Title XVII, of this Book. (n)

Article 1161. - Civil obligations arising from criminal offenses shall be governed by the
penal laws, subject to the provisions of article 2177, and of the pertinent provisions of
Chapter 2, Preliminary Title, on Human Relations, and of Title XVIII of this Book,
regulating damages. (1092a)

Article 1162. - Obligations derived from quasi-delicts shall be governed by the

provisions of Chapter 2, Title XVII of this Book, and by special laws. (1093a)
Negotiorium Gestio / Solutio Indebiti

Negotiorium Gestio
Article 2144. - Whoever voluntarily takes charge of the agency or management of the
business or property of another, without any power from the latter, is obliged to
continue the same until the termination of the affair and its incidents, or to require
the person concerned to substitute him, if the owner is in a position to do so. This
juridical relation does not arise in either of these instances

Solutio Indebiti

Article 2154. If something is received when there is no right to demand it, and it was
unduly delivered through mistake, the obligation to return it arises. (1895)
Article 2155. Payment by reason of a mistake in the construction or application of a
doubtful or difficult question of law may come within the scope of the preceding
article. (n)
Article 2156. If the payer was in doubt whether the debt was due, he may recover if he
proves that it was not due. (n)
Article 2157. The responsibility of two or more payees, when there has been payment
of what is not due, is solidary. (n)
Article 2158. When the property delivered or money paid belongs to a third person,
the payee shall comply with the provisions of article 1984. (n)
Article 2159. Whoever in bad faith accepts an undue payment, shall pay legal interest
if a sum of money is involved, or shall be liable for fruits received or which should
have been received if the thing produces fruits.
He shall furthermore be answerable for any loss or impairment of the thing from any
cause, and for damages to the person who delivered the thing, until it is recovered.
(1896a)
Article 2160. He who in good faith accepts an undue payment of a thing certain and
determinate shall only be responsible for the impairment or loss of the same or its
 accessories and accessions insofar as he has thereby been benefited. If he has
alienated it, he shall return the price or assign the action to collect the sum. (1897)
Article 2161. As regards the reimbursement for improvements and expenses incurred
by him who unduly received the thing, the provisions of Title V of Book II shall govern.
(1898)
Article 2162. He shall be exempt from the obligation to restore who, believing in good
faith that the payment was being made of a legitimate and subsisting claim, destroyed
the document, or allowed the action to prescribe, or gave up the pledges, or cancelled
the guaranties for his right. He who paid unduly may proceed only against the true
debtor or the guarantors with regard to whom the action is still effective. (1899)
Article 2163. It is presumed that there was a mistake in the payment if something
which had never been due or had already been paid was delivered; but he from whom
the return is claimed may prove that the delivery was made out of liberality or for any
other just cause. (1901)

Determinate / Indeterminate Thing

Determinate
The requisites that a thing be determinate is satisfied if at the time the contract
is entered into, the thing is capable of being made determinate without the necessity of
a new or further agreement between the parties. Determinate thing.

Indeterminate Thing
Indeterminate refers only to a class or genus to which it pertains and cannot be
pointed out with particularity. It is identified only by its specie - the debtor can give
anything of the same class as long as it is of the same kind. *Duties of debtor in
obligation to give a determinate thing
 Kinds of Fruits in Civil Law

There are two kinds of fruits;

1. Natural Fruits
2. Civil Fruits

Natural Fruits
Natural fruits are products of the earth or of animals.

Civil Fruits
Civil fruits are revenues derived from a thing by operation of law
or by reason of a juridical act, such as rentals, interest, and
certain corporate distributions.
Diligence of a good father of the family

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. (1094a)

Article 1164. The creditor has a right to the fruits of the thing from the time the
obligation to deliver it arises. However, he shall acquire no real right over it until the
same has been delivered to him. (1095)

Article 1165. When what is to be delivered is a determinate thing, the creditor, in

addition to the right granted him by article 1170, and may compel the debtor to make
the delivery.
If the thing is indeterminate or generic, he may ask that the obligation be complied
with at the expense of the debtor.
If the obligor delays, or has promised to deliver the same thing to two or more
persons who do not have the same interest, he shall be responsible for any fortuitous
event until he has effected the delivery. (1096)

Article 1166. The obligation to give a determinate thing includes that of delivering all
its accessions and accessories, even though they may not have been mentioned.
(1097a)

Article 1167. If a person obliged to do something fails to do it, the same shall be
executed at his cost. This same rule shall be observed if he does it in contravention of
the tenor of the obligation. Furthermore, it may be decreed that what has been poorly
done be undone. (1098)