Santillana Jan Rhoneil R.

Week 2

General Provisions in Obligations and Contracts

In our first two meetings in our class we had under Atty. Ida, we were taught of the basic
elements to be learned in Chapter 1 General Provisions. Under Art. 1156 of the law on
obligations and contracts, an Obligation is defined as a juridical necessity to give, to do or not to
do.
From my understanding in its strict legal sense, it refers to one that has the duty to give
something, or to do or not do an act, that is legally binding to the parties involved. It
contemplates those that are legally demandable and enforceable. The obligations being referred
here are the ones that are under the scope of our civil law and the essence of such is the term
juridical necessity meaning, that the parties may call upon the courts for relief or demand for
its performance.
An obligation has essential elements: a Passive and Active subject, the Object or Prestation, and
the Cause or Juridical Tie. Both the Passive and Active subject are simply the parties involved. In
one simple example, one can say that it is the Buyer and the Seller. The Object or Prestation
simply refers to the thing or service that is considered in a transaction. And the Cause or Juridical
Tie is the abstract purpose of why we are bound to be obligated. (ex. we use money to meet the
price of the thing to buy it). I learned that we are experiencing obligations and contracts in our
daily lives, simply through our transactions. We are always following the flow on how these
elements of obligations and contracts play out in every given situation. We have experienced
being a Passive or Active subject when at times we buy food, or for our personal needs, pay the
fare for our transportation and the like. And when we sell on another, and this time we are the
ones that demand for the payment of money.
The above mentioned obligations are of the positive kind, ( to give, to buy, to do) but an
obligation can be of the negative kind ( not to do). A perfect example of this is when our
professor discussed in class, the different signs that we see on the road or in different places. ( ex.
the STOP sign, No Jaywalking, No Smoking etc.) These are all ordinances enacted by our
government that is enforced by our public authorities. The essence of this is for the general
welfare of the public. And we are all Passive Subjects that are bound to obey as our Juridical
Tie, that connects us to these laws and regulations.

The source of obligations are not limited to just the laws behind it there are also outside sources
not contemplated by law. These are Quasi Contracts or Quasi Delicts (Delict = crime). Quasi
means, as our professor made a joke about it, Sakto lang or parang. So its like a sort of.
Quasi Contracts are sort of like a Contract but not entirely and Quasi Delicts are sort of like a
crime but not exactly.
I have made an example in class of an idea on what a Quasi Contract might be like, and that is
for example: When A a neighbor of B, found Bs Child who got injured or sick when his parents
are not around. A out of generosity took care of the child and sent him to a hospital, where he
paid for the hospital bills. When the parents found out, they are relieved and out of good gesture,
decided to be obligated to reimburse the expenses made by neighbor A.
That is called negotiorum gestio and it is a voluntary consideration of one to another, without the
latters knowledge or consent. Our professor told us that there is a law behind it under our Civil
Code and it is sometimes called The Good Samaritan Law based on the same situation under
the story. Under this principle the person who has the deed done for his benefit without his
knowledge or consent, is obligated to reimburse the expenses of the generosity of the other,
should he decide to demand for it.
All in all, I have learned a lot on the fundamentals on how obligations work and how it is
observed in our daily life. Im looking forward to next time when we are going to be taught on
how contracts work.