Title XVII. - EXTRA-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
CHAPTER 1
Art. 2147. The officious manager shall be liable for
any fortuitous event:
QUASI-CONTRACTS
Art. 2142. Certain lawful, voluntary and unilateral
acts give rise to the juridical relation of quasicontract to the end that no one shall be unjustly
enriched or benefited at the expense of another.
(n)
Art. 2143. The provisions for quasi-contracts in this
Chapter do not exclude other quasi-contracts
which may come within the purview of the
preceding article. (n)
SECTION 1. - NEGOTIORUM GESTIO
Art. 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:
(1) When the property or business is not neglected
or abandoned;
(2) If in fact the manager has been tacitly
authorized by the owner.
In the first case, the provisions of Articles 1317,
1403, No. 1, and 1404 regarding unauthorized
contracts shall govern.
In the second case, the rules on agency in Title X of
this Book shall be applicable. (1888a)
(1) If he undertakes risky operations which the
owner was not accustomed to embark upon;
(2) If he has preferred his own interest to that of
the owner;
(3) If he fails to return the property or business
after demand by the owner;
(4) If he assumed the management in bad faith.
(1891a)
Art. 2148. Except when the management was
assumed to save property or business from
imminent danger, the officious manager shall be
liable for fortuitous events:
(1) If he is manifestly unfit to carry on the
management;
(2) If by his intervention he prevented a more
competent person from taking up the
management. (n)
Art. 2149. The ratification of the management by
the owner of the business produces the effects of
an express agency, even if the business may not
have been successful. (1892a)
Art. 2150. Although the officious management may
not have been expressly ratified, the owner of the
property or business who enjoys the advantages of
the same shall be liable for obligations incurred in
his interest, and shall reimburse the officious
manager for the necessary and useful expenses
and for the damages which the latter may have
suffered in the performance of his duties.
Art. 2145. The officious manager shall perform his
duties with all the diligence of a good father of a
family, and pay the damages which through his
fault or negligence may be suffered by the owner
of the property or business under management.
The same obligation shall be incumbent upon him
when the management had for its purpose the
prevention of an imminent and manifest loss,
although no benefit may have been derived. (1893)
The courts may, however, increase or moderate
the indemnity according to the circumstances of
each case. (1889a)
Art. 2151. Even though the owner did not derive
any benefit and there has been no imminent and
manifest danger to the property or business, the
owner is liable as under the first paragraph of the
preceding article, provided:
Art. 2146. If the officious manager delegates to
another person all or some of his duties, he shall be
liable for the acts of the delegate, without
prejudice to the direct obligation of the latter
toward the owner of the business.
The responsibility of two or more officious
managers shall be solidary, unless the management
was assumed to save the thing or business from
imminent danger. (1890a)
(1) The officious manager has acted in good faith,
and
(2) The property or business is intact, ready to be
returned to the owner. (n)
Art. 2152. The officious manager is personally
liable for contracts which he has entered into with
third persons, even though he acted in the name of
the owner, and there shall be no right of action
between the owner and third persons. These
provisions shall not apply:
(1) If the owner has expressly or tacitly ratified the
management, or
(2) When the contract refers to things pertaining to
the owner of the business. (n)
Art. 2153. The management is extinguished:
(1) When the owner repudiates it or puts an end
thereto;
(2) When the officious manager withdraws from
the management, subject to the provisions of
Article 2144;
(3) By the death, civil interdiction, insanity or
insolvency of the owner or the officious manager.
(n)
SECTION 2. - SOLUTIO INDEBITI
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 2156. If the payer was in doubt whether the
debt was due, he may recover if he proves that it
was not due. (n)
Art. 2157. The responsibility of two or more
payees, when there has been payment of what is
not due, is solidary. (n)
Art. 2158. When the property delivered or money
paid belongs to a third person, the payee shall
comply with the provisions of article 1984. (n)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)