ARTICLE 1156. An obligation is a juridical necessity to give,
to do or not to do. (n)
MEANING OF OBLIGATION
Obligation- derived from the Latin word “obligatio” which
means a “tying” or “binding.”
Manresa defines the term as “a legal relation established
between one party and another, whereby the latter is bound
to the fulfillment of a prestation which the former may
demand of him.” (8 Manresa 13.)
EXPLANATION:
MEANING OF JURIDICAL NECESSITY
Obligation is a juridical necessity because, in case of noncompliance, the courts of justice may be called upon to
enforce its fulfillment or, in default thereof, the economic
value that it represents.
EXPLANATION:
NATURE OF OBLIGATION UNDER THE CIVIL CODE
Civil obligations- Obligations which give to the creditor or
obligee a right of action in courts of justice to enforce their
performance
Article 1423- They are to be distinguished from natural
obligations which, not being based on positive law but on
equity and natural law, do not grant a right of action to
enforce their performance although, in case of voluntary
fulfillment by the debtor, the latter may not recover what
has been delivered or rendered by reason thereof.
ESSENTIAL
(ELEMENTS)
OBLIGATION.
REQUISITES
OF
AN
(1) A passive subject (called debtor or obligor) or the
person who is bound to the fulfillment of the
obligation; he who has a duty;
(2) An active subject (called creditor or obligee) or the
person who is entitled to demand the fulfillment of
the obligation; he who has a right;
(3) Object or prestation (subject matter of the
obligation) or the conduct required to be observed
by the debtor. It may consist in giving, doing, or not
doing. (see Art. 1232.) Without the prestation,
there is nothing to perform. In bilateral obligations
(see Art. 1191.), the parties are reciprocally
debtors and creditors; and
EXPLANATION
(4) A juridical or legal tie (also called efficient cause)
or that which binds or connects the parties to the
obligation. The tie in an obligation can easily be
determined by knowing the source of the
obligation. (Art. 1157.)
EXPLANATION
FORM OF OBLIGATION
Art. 1356- As a general rule, the law does not require any
form in obligations arising from contracts for their validity
or binding force.
OBLIGATION, RIGHT & WRONG (CAUSE OF ACTION)
DISTINGUISHED
(1) Obligation is the act or performance which the law
will enforce.
(2) Right, on the other hand, is the power which a
person has under the law, to demand from another
any prestation.
(3) A wrong (cause of action), according to its legal
meaning, is an act or omission of one party in
violation
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CAUSE OF ACTION
(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;
and
(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. (see Ma-ao
Sugar Central Co. vs. Barrios, 79 Phil. 66 [1948]; Teves vs.
People’s Homesite and Housing Corp., 23 SCRA 1141
[1968]; Development Bank of the Phils. vs. Pundogar, 218
SCRA 118 [1993]; Parañaque King Enterprises vs. Court of
Appeals, 269 SCRA 727 [1997]; Nadela vs. City of Cebu,
411 SCRA 315 [2003].)
INJURY, DAMAGE AND DAMAGES DISTINGUISHED
Injury is the illegal invasion of a legal right; it is the
wrongful act or omission which causes loss or harm to
another, while damage is the loss, hurt, or harm which
results from the injury. On the other hand, damages denote
the sum of money recoverable as amends for the wrongful
act or omission; and
EXISTENCE OF ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER
There may be injury without damage and damage without
injury.
(1) Proof of loss for injury. — A wrongful violation of his
legal right is not sufficient to entitle a person to sue another
in a court of justice for the enforcement or protection of said
right. As a rule, there must be, in addition, loss or damage
caused to him by the violation of his right. But except for
actual or compensatory damages (Art. 2199.), no pecuniary
proof is necessary in order that moral, nominal, temperate,
liquidated, or exemplary damages may be awarded. (Art.
2216.)