BOOK IV

OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS

Title. I. - OBLIGATIONS
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS

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

Art. 1157. Obligations arise from:
(1) Law;
(2) Contracts;
(3) Quasi-contracts;
(4) Acts or omissions punished by law; and
(5) Quasi-delicts. (1089a)
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)
Art. 1159. Obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties and should be
complied with in good faith. (1091a)

Art. 1160. Obligations derived from quasi-contracts shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 1, Title XVII, of this
Book. (n)

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)
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)

CHAPTER 2
NATURE AND EFFECT OF OBLIGATIONS

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. (1094a)
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. (1095)
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 effected the delivery. (1096)

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)
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)
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
extrajudicially demands from them the fulfillment 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 declare; 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. (1100a)
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. (1101)
Art. 1171. Responsibility arising from fraud is demandable in all obligations. Any waiver of an action for future fraud
is void. (1102a)
Art. 1172. Responsibility arising from negligence in the performance of every kind of obligation is also demandable,
but such liability may be regulated by the courts, according to the circumstances. (1103)

Art. 1173. The fault or negligence of the obligor consists in the omission of that diligence which is required by the
nature of the obligation and corresponds with the circumstances of the persons, of the time and of the place. When
negligence shows bad faith, the provisions of Articles 1171 and 2201, paragraph 2, shall apply.
If the law or contract does not state the diligence which is to be observed in the performance, that which is expected
of a good father of a family shall be required. (1104a)
Art. 1174. Except in cases expressly specified by the law, or when it is otherwise declared by stipulation, or when
the nature of the obligation requires the assumption of risk, no person shall be responsible for those events which
could not be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, were inevitable. (1105a)
Art. 1175. Usurious transactions shall be governed by special laws. (n)
Art. 1176. The receipt of the principal by the creditor without reservation with respect to the interest, shall give rise to
the presumption that said interest has been paid.
The receipt of a later installment of a debt without reservation as to prior installments, shall likewise raise the
presumption that such installments have been paid. (1110a)
Art. 1177. The creditors, after having pursued the property in possession of the debtor to satisfy their claims, may
exercise all the rights and bring all the actions of the latter for the same purpose, save those which are inherent in
his person; they may also impugn the acts which the debtor may have done to defraud them. (1111)

Art. 1178. Subject to the laws, all rights acquired in virtue of an obligation are transmissible, if there has been no
stipulation to the contrary. (1112)

CHAPTER 3
DIFFERENT KINDS OF OBLIGATIONS
SECTION 1. - Pure and Conditional Obligations

Art. 1179. Every obligation whose performance does not depend upon a future or uncertain event, or upon a past
event unknown to the parties, is demandable at once.
The Philippine Civil Code is the basic law governing:
(1) persons and family relations; (2) property, ownership and its modifications; (3) the modes of acquiring ownership;
and (4) obligations and contracts.
Executive Order No. 48 dated March 20, 1947 created a Code Commission tasked with the immediate revision of
all existing substantive laws of the Philippines and of codifying them in conformity with the customs, traditions, and
idiosyncrasies of the Filipino people and with modern trends in legislation and the progressive principles of law. On
January 26, 1948, the Code Commission submitted its report to the President. On June 18, 1949, Congress enacted
Republic Act No. 386 entitled An Act to Ordain and Institute the Civil Code of the Philippines.

The Civil Code repealed: (a) those parts and provisions of the Civil Code of 1889 which were in force and effective
when the Civil Code took effect; (b) the provisions of the Code of Commerce governing sales, partnership, agency,
loan, deposit and guaranty; (c) the provisions of the then Code of Civil Procedure on prescriptions insofar as
inconsistent with the Civil Code; and (d) all laws, acts, rules of court, executive orders and administrative regulations
which are inconsistent with the Civil Code.
The Civil Code is based on the Civil Code of 1889, which is of Spanish and French origin. (see Report of the Code
Commission dated January 26, 1948, hereafter Report). Among others, the Civil Code introduced new rights and
causes of action not found in the Civil Code of 1889, such as those recognized in:
(1) article 21(acts contrary to morals;
(2) article 29 ((civil action for acquittal on reasonable doubt);
(3) article 32 (civil action for obstruction of civil liberty);
(4) article 706 (abatement of private nuisance);

(5) article 1359 (reformation of instruments);

(6) articles 1448-1456 (implied trusts);
(7) articles 2174-2175 (two additional quasi-contracts);
(8) article 2189 (liability of municipalities for defective conditions of streets);

(9) articles 2217 and 2221 (moral and nominal damages). (see Report)
Subsequent amendments were made to the Civil Code, the most comprehensive of which relates to the
amendments introduced by the Family Code..

History
The Philippine Civil Code is strongly influenced by the Spanish Cdigo Civil, which was first enforced in 1889 within
the Philippines, then a colony of the Spanish Empire. The Cdigo Civil remained in effect even throughout
the American Occupation, however by 1940 the Commonwealth Government of President Manuel Luis
Quezon formed a Commission tasked with drafting a new Civil Code. The Commission was initially headed by Chief
Justice Ramn Avancea, but its work was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and the Second World War, while
its records were destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945.
In 1947, President Manuel Roxas of the Third Republic created a new Code Commission, this time headed by the
former Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, Jorge Bocobo. Among the members of this new
Commission were future Supreme CourtAssociate Justice Francisco R. Capistrano, and future Vice-President Arturo
Tolentino. The Code Commission completed the final draft of the new Civil Code by December 1947, and this was
submitted to Congress, which enacted it into law through Republic Act No. 386. The Civil Code took effect in 1950.[1]
Due to its wide coverage and impact, the Civil Code is the subject of much study and extensive commentary.
Several legal luminaries developed reputations as experts on the Civil Code and consequently enhanced their
reputations in the field of Philippine law. These include Tolentino, who himself had helped draft it, Supreme
Court Associate Justices J. B. L. Reyes, Flrida Ruth P. Romero, Jos Vitug, and Edgardo Paras.