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Chapter Summary of Hector De Leon Obligations and Contracts...

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OBLIGATIONS Session 3 Chapter 2 NATURE AND EFFECT OF OBLIGATIONS

ART.1163-1170

ART. 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. Meaning of specific or determinate thing. The above provision refers to an obligation to give a specific or determinate thing. A thing is said to be specific or determinate when it is particularly designated or physically segregated from all others of the same class. (Art. 1459.) Meaning of generic or indeterminate thing. A thing is generic or indeterminate when it refers only to a class or genus to which it pertains and cannot be pointed out with particularity.

Duties of debtor in obligation to give a determinate thing. They are: (1) To preserve or take care of the thing due; (2) To deliver the fruits of the thing (see Art. 1164.); (3) To deliver its accessions and accessories (see Art. 1166.); (4) To deliver the thing itself (see Arts. 1163, 1233, 1244; as to kinds of delivery, Arts. 1497 to 1501.) (5) To answer for damages in case of non-fulfillment or breach. (see Art. 1170.) Obligation to take care of the thing due. (1) Diligence of a good father of a family. — In obligations to give (real obligations), the obligor has the incidental duty to take care of the thing due with the diligence of a good father of a family pending delivery. The phrase has been equated with ordinary care or that diligence which an average (a reasonably prudent) person exercise over his own property. The diligence as a father of a family requires extraordinary care of diligence. In an obligation to give a specific thing diligence of a good father of the family are required. If that person fails to observe the diligence and caused a damage that person is liable but this is not applicable in generic thing unless you need to give a specific thing. So prior to delivering you as a debtor you need to take care that specific thing. (2) Another standard of care. — However, if the law or the stipulation of the parties provides for another standard of care (slight or extraordinary diligence), said law or stipulation must prevail. (Art.

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1163.) (3) Factors to be considered. — The diligence required depends upon the nature of the obligation and corresponds with the circumstances of the person, of the time, and of the place. (Art. 1173.) It is not necessarily the standard of care one always uses in the protection of his own property. As a general rule, the debtor is not liable if his failure to preserve the thing is not due to his fault or negligence but to fortuitous events or force majeure. (Art. 1174.) (4) Reason for debtor’s obligation. — The debtor must exercise diligence to ensure that the thing to be delivered would subsist in the same condition as it was when the obligation was contracted. Without the accessory duty to take care of the thing, the debtor would be able to afford being negligent and he would not be liable even if the property is lost or destroyed, thus rendering illusory the obligation to give. (8 Manresa 35-37.) Duties of debtor in obligation to deliver a generic thing. They are: (1) To deliver a thing which is of the quality intended by the parties taking into consideration the purpose of the obligation and other circumstances (see Art. 1246.); and (2) To be liable for damages in case of fraud, negligence, or delay, in the performance of his obligation, or contravention of the tenor thereof. (see Art. 1170.)

ART. 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. So, what was the creditor have the rights to the fruits when that time occur? If there’s no term and conditions then from the time of the Perfection of the contract Contracts of sale- spontaneous Term arrives or condition happens Provisions of the law applicable If the thing you order is not yet delivered to your house or to you personally that thing can’t yet be called as yours Real rights A right enforceable against the whole world, it is applicable to whomever. Personal right Enforceable only to a particular person

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Different kinds of fruits. 1. Natural fruits are the spontaneous products of the soil, and the young and other products of animals. EXAMPLES: Grass; all trees and plants on lands produced without the intervention of human labor. 2. Industrial fruits are those produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor. EXAMPLES: Sugar cane; vegetables; rice; and all products of lands brought about by reason of human labor. 3. Civil fruits are those derived by virtue of a juridical relation EXAMPLES: Rents of buildings, price of leases of lands and other property and the amount of perpetual or life annuities or other similar income. (Art. 442.)

Meaning of personal right and real right. 1. Personal right is the right or power of a person (creditor) to demand from another (debtor), as a definite passive subject, the fulfilment of the latter’s obligation to give, to do, or not to do. 2. Real right is the right or interest of a person over a specific thing (like ownership, possession, mortgage, lease record) without a definite passive subject against whom the right may be personally enforced. Personal right and real right distinguished. 1. In personal right there is a definite active subject and a definite passive subject, in real right, there is only a definite active subject without any definite passive subject. 2. A personal right is, therefore, binding or enforceable only against a particular person while a real right is directed against the whole world. ART. 1165. When what is to be delivered is a determinate thing, the creditor, in addition to the right granted him by Article 1170, 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 affected the delivery. (1096) Remedies of creditor in real obligation.

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1.

In a specific real obligation (obligation to deliver a determinate thing), the creditor may exercise the following remedies or rights in case the debtor fails to comply with his obligation:

a) demand specific performance or fulfillment (if it is still possible) of the obligation with a right to indemnity for damages; or b) demand rescission or cancellation (in certain cases) of the obligation also with a right to recover damages (Art. 1170.); or c) demand the payment of damages only where it is the only feasible remedy. 2.

A generic real obligation (obligation to deliver a generic thing), on the other hand, can be performed by a third person since the object is expressed only according to its family or genus.

Fortuitous event It Is the unforeseen event or if foreseen it is inevitable ART. 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) Meaning of accessions and accessories. 1. Accessions are the fruits of, or additions to, or improvements upon, a thing (the principal).

EXAMPLES: House or trees on a land; rents of a building; air conditioner in a car; profits or dividends accruing from shares of stocks; etc. 2.

Accessories are things joined to, or included with, the principal thing for the latter’s embellishment, better use, or completion, EXAMPLES: Key of a house; frame of a picture; bracelet of a watch; machinery in a factory; bow of a violin

ART. 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) -Positive personal obligation Situations contemplated in Article 1167. Article 1167 refers to an obligation to do, i.e., to perform an act or render a service. It contemplates three situations: (1) The debtor fails to perform an obligation to do; or (2) The debtor performs an obligation to do but contrary to the terms thereof; or (3) The debtor performs an obligation to do but in a poor manner

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Remedies of creditor in positive personal obligation. (1) If the debtor fails to comply with his obligation to do, the creditor has the right: (a) to have the obligation performed by himself, or by another unless personal considerations are involved, at the debtor’s expense; and (b) to recover damages. (Art. 1170.) (2) In case the obligation is done in contravention of the terms of the same or is poorly done, it may be ordered (by the court) that it be undone if it is still possible to undo what was done. Performance by a third person. A personal obligation to do, like a real obligation to deliver a generic thing , can be performed by a third person. While the debtor can be compelled to make the delivery of a specific thing (Art. 1165.), a specific performance cannot be ordered in a personal obligation to do because this may amount to involuntary servitude which, as a rule, is prohibited under our Constitution. (Art. III, Sec. 18[2] thereof.) ART. 1168. When the obligation consists in not doing, and the obligor does what has been forbidden him, it shall also be undone at his expense. (1099a)

ART. 1169. Those obliged to deliver or to do something incur in delay from the time the obligee judicially or extra-judicially demands from them the fulfilment of their obligation. However, the demand by the creditor shall not be necessary in order that delay may exist: (1) When the obligation or the law expressly so declares; or (2) When from the nature and the circumstances of the obligation it appears that the designation of the time when the thing is to be delivered or the service is to be rendered was a controlling motive for the establishment of the contract; or (3) When demand would be useless, as when the obligor has rendered it beyond his power to perform. In reciprocal obligations, neither party incurs in delay if the other does not comply or is not ready to comply in a proper manner with what is incumbent upon him. From the moment one of the parties fulfills his obligation, delay by the other begins. Meaning of delay. The word delay, as used in the law, is not to be understood according to its meaning in common parlance. A distinction, therefore, should be made between ordinary delay and legal delay (default or mora) in the performance of an obligation.

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1. Ordinary delay is merely the failure to perform an obligation on time. 2.

Legal delay or default or mora is the failure to perform an obligation on time which failure, constitutes a breach of the obligation.

Kinds of delay (mora) or default. 1. Mora solvendi or the delay on the part of the debtor to fulfill his obligation (to give or to do) by reason of a cause imputable to him; 2. Mora accipiendi or the delay on the part of the creditor without justifiable reason to accept the performance of the obligation; and 3.

Compensatio morae or the delay of the obligors in reciprocal obligations (like in sale), i.e., the delay of the obligor cancels the delay of the obligee, and vice versa.

ART. 1170. Those who in the performance of their obligations are guilty of fraud, negligence, or delay, and those who in any manner contravene the tenor thereof, are liable for damages. Grounds for liability. 1. Fraud (deceit or dolo). — As used in Article 1170, it is the deliberate or intentional evasion of the normal fulfillment of an obligation. It is synonymous to bad faith in that, it involves a design to mislead or deceive another. 2. Negligence (fault or culpa). — It is any voluntary act or omission, there being no malice, which prevents the normal fulfillment of an obligation. 3. Delay (mora). — This has already been discussed under Article 1169. 4. Contravention of the terms of the obligation. — This is the violation of the terms and conditions stipulated in the obligation. The contravention must not be due to a fortuitous event or force majeure. (Art. 1174.)

FRAUD NEGLIGENCE 1. Deliberate intention to cause damage No such intention 2. Waiver of liability for future fraud is Waiver maybe allowed void. 3. Must be clearly proved Negligence is presumed 4. Liability cannot be reduced by count Liability may be reduced by count.

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