ARTICLE 1156 NCC-

An obligation is a juridical necessity to

give, to do or not to do.

OBLIGATION
from Latin word “obligatio”
w/c means a “tying” or
“binding”
Article 1156 gives definition of obligation, in its passive aspect.
Our law merely stresses the duty of the debtor or
obligor (he who has the duty of giving, doing, or not doing)
when it speaks of obligation as a juridical necessity.
OBLIGATION
a JURIDICAL
NECESSITY

?
in case of non-compliance,
the courts of justice may be
called upon to enforce its
fulfillment or, in
default thereof, the economic
value that it represents
 Nature of obligations under the
Civil Code
Civil Natural
Obligations Obligations
Obligations which not being based on
positive law but on equity
give to the and natural law, do not
creditor or grant a right of action to
enforce their performance
obligee a right of although in case of
action in courts of voluntary fulfillment by the
debtor, the latter may not
justice to enforce recover what has been
their performance delivered or rendered by
reason thereof. (Art.*
1423.)
ESSENTIAL REQUISITES OF AN OBLIGATION

PASSIVE ACTIVE
SUBJECT SUBJECT

JURIDICAL
OBJECT OR
PRESTATION
OR LEGAL
TIE
EXAMPLE:
Juridical/legal tie passive subject

Under a building contract, X

Object/prestation

bound himself to construct a

active subject

house for Y for P1,000,000.00.

 CAUSE OF ACTION
according to its legal meaning, is an act or omission of one
party in violation of the legal right or rights of another,
causing injury to the latter;

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
(a) a legal right in favor of a person (creditor/plaintiff) by
whatever means and under whatever law it arises or is created;

(b) a correlative legal obligation on the part of another

(debtor/defendant) to respect or not to violate said right;

(c) an act or omission in breach or violation of said right by

the defendant with consequential injury or damage to the plaintiff
for which he may maintain an action for the recovery of damages
or other appropriate relief.
If any of these elements is absent, the complaint
becomes vulnerable to a motion to dismiss on the
ground of failure to state a cause of action.
(San Lorenzo Village Assoc., Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, 288 SCRA 115 [1998]; Uy vs.
Evangelista, 361 SCRA 95 [2001].)

The presence of a cause of action rests on the

sufficiency, and not on the veracity, of the
allegations in the complaint, which will have to be
examined during the trial on the merits.
(Pioneer International, Ltd. vs. Guadiz, Jr., 535 SCRA 584 [2007].)
Cause of action based upon
a written contract.
Actions based upon a written contract
should be brought within 10 years from
the time the right of action accrues.
(Art. 1144.)

The accrual refers to the cause of

action.
 Art. 19. Every person must, in the exercise of his rights
and in the performance of his duties, act with justice,
give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good
faith. The principle of damnum absque injuria does not
apply when there is an abuse of a person’s right.

Article 19 prescribes a “primordial limitation on all

rights’’ by setting certain standards that must be
observed in the exercise thereof. It does not permit an
abuse of rights which is committed when the defendant
acts with bad faith or intent to prejudice the plaintiff
in the exercise of a right. Such abuse will give rise to
liability for damages. Good faith, however,
is presumed.
Kinds of obligation according
to subject matter.
(1)Real obligation (obligation to give)

(2)Personal obligation (obligation to do or

not to do)
(a) Positive personal obligation or obligation to do or to

render service (see Art. 1167.); and

(b) Negative personal obligation or obligation not to do
(which naturally includes obligations “not to give”).
(see Art. 1168.)
ART. 1157. Obligations arise from:

(1) Law;
(2) Contracts;
(3) Quasi-contracts;
(4) Acts or omissions punished by law;
(5) Quasi-delicts. (1089a)
 SOURCES OF OBLIGATION
(1) Law —
when they are imposed by the law itself, e.g., obligation to pay
taxes; obligation to support one’s family (see Art. 195, Family Code.);

(2) Contracts —
when they arise from the stipulation of the parties (Art. 1306.),
e.g., the obligation to repay a loan by virtue of an agreement;

(3) Quasi-contracts —
when they arise from lawful, voluntary and unilateral acts and
which are enforceable to the end that no one shall be unjustly enriched or
benefited at the expense of another (Art. 2142.),
e.g., the obligation to return money paid by mistake or which is
not due. (Art. 2154.) In a sense, these obligations may be considered
as arising from law;
 SOURCES OF OBLIGATION
(4) Crimes or acts or omissions punished by law. —
when they arise from civil liability which is the consequence of a
criminal offense (Art. 1161.), e.g., the obligation of a thief to return the
car stolen by him; the duty of a killer to indemnify the heirs of his victim;
and

(5) Quasi-delicts or torts. —

when they arise from damage caused to another through an act or
omission, there being fault or negligence, but no contractual
relation exists between the parties (Art. 2176.), e.g., the obligation of
the head of a family that lives in a building or a part
thereof to answer for damages caused by things thrown or falling
from the same (Art. 2193.); the obligation of the possessor of an animal
to pay for the damage which it may have caused. (Art. 2183.)
Sources classified.
(1) Those emanating from law; and

(2) Those emanating from private acts which may

be further subdivided into:

(a) those arising from licit acts, in the case

of contracts and quasi-contracts; and

(b) those arising from illicit acts, which may

be either punishable by law in the case of
delicts, or not punishable in the case of
quasi-delicts.
 ART. 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)
 (1) An employer has no obligation to furnish
free legal assistance to his employees because
no law requires this, and, therefore, an
employee may not recover from his employer
the amount he may have paid a lawyer hired
by him to recover damages caused to said
employee by a stranger or strangers while in
the performance of his duties.
(De la Cruz vs. Northern Theatrical Enterprises,
95 Phil. 739 [1954].)
 (2) A private school has no legal
obligation to provide clothing
allowance to its teachers because
there is no law which imposes this
obligation upon schools. But a person
who wins money in gambling
has the duty to return his winnings to
the loser. This obligation is provided
by law. (Art. 2014.)
 Under Article 1158, special laws refer to all other
laws not contained in the Civil Code.
ILLUSTRATIVE CASE:
1. Liability of husband for medical assistance rendered to his wife but
contracted by his parents.
Facts: X, by virtue of having been sent for by B and C, attended as physician
and rendered professional services to a daughter-in-law of B and C during a
difficult and laborious childbirth.
Issue: Who is bound to pay the bill: B and C, the parents-in-law of the
patient, or the husband of the latter?
Held: The rendering of medical assistance in case of illness is comprised
among the mutual obligations to which spouses are bound by way of mutual
support.4 If spouses are mutually bound to support each other, there can be no
question that when either of them by reason of illness should be in need of
medical assistance, the other is to render the unavoidable obligation to furnish
the services of a physician and is liable for all expenses, including the fees for
professional services. This liability originates from the above-mentioned mutual
obligation which the law has expressly established between the married couple.
B and C not having personally bound themselves to pay are not liable.
(Pelayo vs. Lauron, 12 Phil. 453 [1909].)
 have the force
ART. 1159. Obligations arising from contracts
of law between the contracting parties and should
be complied with in good faith. (1091a)

CONTRACT
is 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.) It is the formal expression
by the parties of their rights and
obligations they have agreed upon with
respect to each other.
ART. 1160. Obligations derived from quasi-contracts
shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 1, Title
XVII, of this Book. (n)

Quasi-Contract
juridical relation resulting from certain lawful,
voluntary and unilateral acts by virtue of which
the parties become bound to each other to the
end that no one will be unjustly enriched or
benefited at the expense of another. (Art. 2142.)
Kinds of Quasi-Contract
(1) Negotiorum gestio
- is the voluntary management of the property or affairs of another
without the knowledge or consent of the latter. (Art. 2144.) Thus, if
through the efforts of X, a neighbor, the house of Y was saved from
being burned, Y has the obligation to reimburse X for the expenses X
incurred although Y did not actually give his consent to the act of X
in saving his house on the principle of quasi-contract.

(2) Solutio indebiti

- is the juridical relation which is created when something is received

when there is no right to demand it and it was unduly delivered

through mistake. (Art. 2154.) The obligation to pay money
mistakenly paid arises from the moment said payment was made,
and not from the time the payee admits the obligation to reimburse.
 ART. 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)

Civil liability arising from crimes or delicts.

(1) The commission of an offense has a two-pronged effect: one,
on the public as it breaches the social order and the other,
upon the private victim as it causes personal sufferings or
injury, each of which is addressed, respectively, by the
imposition of heavier punishment on the accused and by an
award of additional damages to the victim. (People vs. Catubig,
363 SCRA 621 [2001].)
(2) Oftentimes, the commission of a crime causes not only moral
evil but also material damage. From this principle, the rule has
been established that every person criminally liable for a
Scope of Civil Liability
1. Restitution
2. Reparation for the damage caused
3. Indemnification for consequential
damages
 ART. 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)

Obligations arising from Quasi-Delicts:

Art. 2176. Whoever by act or omission causes
damage to another, there being fault or
negligence, is obliged to pay for the damage done.
Such fault or negligence, if there is no preexisting
contractual relation between the parties, is called
a quasi-delict.
Quasi-Delict
an act or omission by a person (tort
feasor) which causes damage to
another in his person, property, or
rights giving rise to an obligation to
pay for the damage done, there
being fault or negligence but there is
no pre-existing contractual relation
between the parties.
 CRIME QUASI-DELICT
1. There is criminal or malicious 1. There is only negligence
2. Concerns private interest
intent or criminal negligence 3. There is only Civil Liability
2. Affects public interest 4. The purpose is
3. there are generally two indemnification of the
liabilities: criminal and civil offended party
4. The purpose is punishment 5. liability for quasi-delict can
5. Criminal liability can not be be compromised as any
compromised or settled by other civil liability
the parties themselves 6. the fault or negligence of
6. the guilt of the accused must the defendant need only be
be proved beyond reasonable proved by preponderance
doubt of evidence;
7. liability of the person 7. Liability is direct and
responsible for the author primary
of the negligent act or
omission is subsidiary,